Dark And Bloody Ground: Southern Literature After the Bomb
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University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK
2010
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1276528644 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin12765286442021-08-03T06:14:05Z Dark And Bloody Ground: Southern Literature After the Bomb Osborne, Virginia American Literature My dissertation, “Dark and Bloody Ground: Southern Literature After the Bomb,” considers the generation of postwar Southern authors and the effect of the Cold War on their work. Focusing on texts by William Styron, Lillian Smith, Walker Percy, James Dickey, and Ellen Douglas, I demonstrate the presence of nuclear anxiety and other cultural trends specific to the atomic age in a region typically viewed as too intellectually and culturally insular to look abroad. Characters in the novels I consider live in suburban neighborhoods, watch television, go to movies, and buy cars and houses typical of postwar American society, yet they also remain preoccupied with Southern history. The key players in my dissertation simultaneously grapple with the uncertain national future and the objectionable regional past and are unsure of how to reconcile these two seemingly disparate perspectives. Yet the Southern and the American experience are not as dissimilar as has been previously believed, and this is the crux of my argument. Drawing from recent historical and sociocultural studies which connect idiosyncratically Southern social conventions such as segregation with Cold War attitudes such as anticommunism, I claim that national and global concerns affect Southern authors more than has been previously believed and suggest that the regional experience of cultural conservatism and racial strife in the decades after World War II may be attributed to the American Cold War experience. 2010 English text University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1276528644 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1276528644 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
| collection |
NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
American Literature |
| spellingShingle |
American Literature Osborne, Virginia Dark And Bloody Ground: Southern Literature After the Bomb |
| author |
Osborne, Virginia |
| author_facet |
Osborne, Virginia |
| author_sort |
Osborne, Virginia |
| title |
Dark And Bloody Ground: Southern Literature After the Bomb |
| title_short |
Dark And Bloody Ground: Southern Literature After the Bomb |
| title_full |
Dark And Bloody Ground: Southern Literature After the Bomb |
| title_fullStr |
Dark And Bloody Ground: Southern Literature After the Bomb |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Dark And Bloody Ground: Southern Literature After the Bomb |
| title_sort |
dark and bloody ground: southern literature after the bomb |
| publisher |
University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2010 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1276528644 |
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AT osbornevirginia darkandbloodygroundsouthernliteratureafterthebomb |
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