Reflections in a Critical Eye: Essays on Carson McCullers

by Jan Whitt University of Colorado Boulder

Overview

Reflections in a Critical Eye is intended to appeal both to scholars of Carson McCullers and to those unaffiliated with colleges and universities who read and celebrate her life and work.
Following an introduction for newcomers to Southern literature and culture and to McCullers' life and work, the collection presents essays about diverse topics:

·McCullers in the tradition of Southern women's nonfiction prose
·daughters as outlaw figures in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and The Member of the Wedding
·gender and the interplay among the roles characters assume in The Ballad of the Sad Café
·analysis of The Ballad of the Sad Café to explore alcohol as an important signifier in McCullers' life and work
·the political backdrop of McCullers' most well-known works
·same-sex relationships in McCullers' novels and short stories
·and the phenomenon of masquerade in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and The Ballad of the Sad Café.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761838944
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	10/16/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	196
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.07(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

Jan Whitt is associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is the author of other books, including Settling the Borderland: Other Voices in Literary Journalism (2008) and Allegory and the Modern Southern Novel (1994).

Table of Contents

Part 1 Preface
Chapter 2 The Exiled Heir: An Introduction to Carson McCullers and Her Work
Chapter 3 Carson McCullers and the Tradition of Southern Women's Nonfiction Prose
Chapter 4 The Daughters as Outlaw in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter and The Member of the Wedding
Chapter 5 You Might as Well Listen to the Chain Gang: The Ballad of the Sad Café
Chapter 6 A "Calculable Woman" and a "Jittery Ninny": Performing Femininity in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and The Ballad of the Sad Café
Chapter 7 Miss Amelia's Pharmacy: Carson McCullers and the Influence of Alcohol
Chapter 8 "Copying the Wrong Pieces": Replication and the Mathematics of Togetherness in The Member of the Wedding
Chapter 9 Living and Writing in the Margins: Lesbian Desire and the Novels of Carson McCullers
Chapter 10 Politics in the Kitchen: Carson McCullers, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Surrealist History
Chapter 11 "Simple Stories and the Inward Mind": Conclusions and New Beginnings
Part 12 Index
Part 13 About the Contributors

Editorial Reviews

The academic authors explore a variety of approaches to McCullers' writings....This is a useful survey.

Communication Booknotes Quarterly

The academic authors explore a variety of approaches to McCullers' writings....This is a useful survey.

December 2008 Communication Booknotes Quarterly