Popular Feminist Fiction as American Allegory: Representing National Time

236 Pages·2008·1.93 MB·English

by  Jane Elliott

Popular Feminist Fiction
as American Allegory
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Jane Elliott’s Previous Publications
“The Currency of Feminist Theory.” PMLA 121, no. 5 (October 2006):
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1697–1703. 3-1
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“Time of Death: The End of the 1960s and the Problem of Feminist 1-
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nFuot. u1r (itSyp rinin gT h2e0 0W6)o:m 1e4n3’–s 6R8o.om and Vida.” Modern Fiction Studies 52, ect - 2
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10.1057/9780230612808 - Popular Feminist Fiction as American Allegory, Jane Elliott
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Popular Feminist Fiction
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Representing National Time ct - 2
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Jane Elliott en
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10.1057/9780230612808 - Popular Feminist Fiction as American Allegory, Jane Elliott
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POPULAR FEMINIST FICTION AS AMERICAN ALLEGORY
Copyright © Jane Elliott, 2008.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
First published in 2008 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and 1
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Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS. 3-
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Companies and representatives throughout the world. 1-
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PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave ct -
Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. e
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Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom on
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and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European e
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Union and other countries. gra
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ISBN-13: 978-0-230-60542-8 y -
ISBN-10: 0-230-60542-7 sit
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ni
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Elliott, Jane, 1969– Chi
Popular feminist fiction as American allegory : representing national time / by ng
Jane Elliott. Fe
p. cm. d to
Includes bibliographical references and index. se
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ISBN 0-230-60542-7 (alk. paper) e
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Un1i. tFeedm Stinatiests .f 3ic. tUionni,t eAdm Setraitceasn——CHiviisltiozartyi oann—d c1r9it7i0ci-s m4. .A 2m. Feermicainni sfmict iaonnd— lit2e0rtaht ure— m - li
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century—History and criticism. 5. American fiction—Women authors—History and ct.c
criticism. I. Title. ne
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PS374.F45E45 2008 ec
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813’.54093522—dc22 2007045027 gra
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A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. w.
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Design by Scribe Inc. m
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Printed in the United States of America. yri
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Cover image: Laurie Simmons, “Walking Pocket Watch (color)/The Music of Regret” C
(2006). Courtesy the artist and Sperone Westwater, New York.
Chapter 2 first appeared as an article entitled “Time of Death: The Problem of
Feminist Futurity and the End of the 1960s in The Women’s Room and Vida” and was
published in Modern Fiction Studies 52, no. 1 (Spring 2006). The author thanks Johns
Hopkins University Press, publisher and copyright holder, for permission to reprint
this material.
10.1057/9780230612808 - Popular Feminist Fiction as American Allegory, Jane Elliott
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Contents
Acknowledgments vii 11
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Part I Temporal Politics 11-
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Introduction 3 e
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1 The Problem of Static Time: Totalization, the End of History, ve
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and the End of the 1960s 21 algr
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Part II Feminism as Static Time sity -
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2 Heir Apparent: Legacies of the 1960s in The Women’s Room Uni
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and Vida 49 hi
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3 Dead-End Job: The Stepford Wives, Domestic Labor, Fe
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and the End of History 71 d t
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4 Panrodm thisec Duoeusisr eT fiomre tsh: eR Euvbeynfrtu it Jungle, Fear of Flying, 89 m - lic
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Part III Feminism as Futurity ect.
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5 Alice Walker’s Hindsight: Meridian, The Color Purple, av
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and the Production of Prolepsis 113 al
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6 My Mother, My Self: Sentiment and the Transcendence w
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oYfa T-Yima Se iisnte Trhhoeo Jdo y Luck Club and The Divine Secrets of the 137 erial fro
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Coda: Hurried Woman Tales 163 ht
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Notes 169 op
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Bibliography 199
Index 219
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10.1057/9780230612808 - Popular Feminist Fiction as American Allegory, Jane Elliott
Acknowledgments
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This book could not have been written without the help of my mentors, ct - 2
colleagues, family and friends. The ideas explored here had their ne
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first incarnation in a seminar paper on Marx, working-time, and Co
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The Stepford Wives written for a course taught by Richard Dienst, and I a
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am particularly grateful for the encouragement he gave me to return to Pal
this material. I was very fortunate to have my dissertation supervised by sity -
Marianne DeKoven, a wonderfully wise and supportive mentor who ver
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helped me find my way back from several blind alleys and kept me from U
a
straying into countless others. I am thankful not only to have received Chi
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her guidance but also to have in her example such a splendid ideal to en
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strive for in my own teaching of graduate students. The other members o
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of my dissertation committee—Samira Kawash, John McClure, and Joan se
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Scott—offered diverse and insightful comments that continue to shape my c
thinking on this topic. In particular, both Marianne DeKoven and John m - li
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McClure generously shared their passion for the politics of the 1960s ct.
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and 1970s while allowing me to develop my own take on the period, one nn
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that has been shaped not only by my intense cathexis to the New Left e
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and the women’s liberation movement, but also by my inevitably belated gr
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relationship to those political bodies. Especially in light of the vitriolic w.
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struggles between feminist “generations,” I was extremely lucky to have w
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meneanbtloedrs aw phaor teincucolaurr aregaeddi nmge otfo aenx phloisrteo rtihcea lw mayo mmyen otw inn lwohcaicthio nI dinid t inmoet erial fro
participate but whose shadow has overlain the experience of radical Left mat
politics in my lifetime. ght
Parts of this manuscript were drafted and revised with the suport of pyri
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a postdoctoral fellowship in the “Orders of Time” seminar at the Pembroke
Center for Teaching and Research on Women at Brown University. The
Pembroke offered a tremendously encouraging and invigorating venue
for evolving my approach to this material. My thanks to all seminar
participants for their comments on versions of material from Chapters 1, 2,
and 6 and to Elizabeth Weed, Tamar Katz, Flora Keshgegian, Wendy Alison
Lee, Ellen Rooney, Rebecca Schneider, and Samuel Solomon in particular
for making my year at the center such a stimulating and pleasurable one.
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viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My cofellows, Rama Mantena, Adam Gutteridge, and Janelle Blenkenship,
provided many fascinating conversations on time and politics during
our countless meals and drinks together. I am particularly grateful to the
2004–5 Pembroke seminar leader, Rey Chow, for giving so much of her
time and energy to the postdoctoral fellows. Her extraordinarily generous
engagement with us and with our work fostered a sense of community
among the fellows that was remarkable for both its warmth and its sense of 1
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shared intellectual excitement. In addition to the sage advice she offered in 0
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several conversations regarding my research, I am indebted to Rey Chow for 0
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reading and commenting on portions of an earlier draft of this material. ct -
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At the University of York, both colleagues and students have given n
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me the opportunity to discuss and expand ideas developed in this book. e
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I’m particularly grateful to my colleagues in the English department for gr
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responses to my research presentation on The Stepford Wives and the y -
end of history, to colleagues and students in the Centre for Women’s sit
er
Studies for their discussion of my lecture on mother/daughter narratives niv
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and the politics of sentiment, and to the graduate students in my a
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Contemporary Feminist Theory seminar. Both Derek Attridge and g C
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John David Rhodes were instrumental in helping me to find my feet at Fe
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York in a way that gave me the time and energy required to complete this d t
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project. As my co-organizers for two different conferences, each played a ns
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key role in making my first years at York the site of such fruitful intellectual m - li
engagement for me. o
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This book has also benefited enormously from the comments provided ct.
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on various portions and drafts by colleagues and friends, including Jo on
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Applin, Elizabeth Freeman, Theresa Geller, Natasha Hurley, Anthony ve
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Lioi, John David Rhodes, and Jennifer Worley. Heather Tirado Gilligan algr
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and Katherine Sugg both read the manuscript in its entirety, and their w.
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comments were hugely helpful. My thanks also to the Palgrave reviewer m
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who chose to remain anonymous. For a very thoughtful and thought- al fr
provoking workshop of Chapter 6, I would also like to thank the eri
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members of my writing group in York, including Heather Blurton, Catriona m
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Kennedy, Alison O’Byrne, Reena Sastri, and Helen Smith. g
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My fabulous friends and family also provided various means of op
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support in times of intellectual, psychological, and financial crisis,
especially Nora Davenport, Todd Davenport, Judy Gran, Peter Gran,
Scott Hartwig, Elizabeth Ho, Steve Jackson, Jonathan Kessler, Kathy
Kline, Pat Regnier, Brian Phillips, H. D. Richards, and Jennifer Worley. My
parents, Robert and Frances Elliott, and my sister, Beth Elliott, have
provided encouragement in countless ways, perhaps most importantly
through the excellent example they have each given me of sustained
commitment in the face of trials, tribulations, and absurdly delayed
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
gratification. Special thanks go to Gabriel Sena and Katherine Sugg, my
longtime companions and comrades-in-arms in the ongoing daily bat-
tle that is writing; I could not have completed this project without the
profound sense of solidarity and perpetual inspiration their friendship
provides. My final debt of gratitude is to my partner, Stephen Gran, whose
marvelous combination of intellectual rigor and academic irreverence
helps me both to work and to play. I do not think it is possible to repay 1
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the kindness, understanding, and sheer equanimity he has shown in the 0
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face of this seemingly endless undertaking, but I am looking forward to 0
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making the attempt. ct -
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