reality of fiction

Date Issued:: 2008
Summary:: Zora Neale Hurston's last published novel, Seraph on the Suwanee, can be read as a sociopolitical critique of what she once referred to as the false foundation of Anglo-Saxon civilization. An overview of the history of race as a concept and the development of racial awareness in the United States provides a background/context for understanding the world Hurston was diagnosing: her analysis implies that the social construction of whiteness contains within its ideology the seeds of its own destruction. Feminist notions of origin, context, and foundation highlight the narcissistic nature of patriarchal social systems that exploit not only the female body but nature as well. In a society that supposedly honors the maternal and praises the beauty of nature, Hurston's novel suggests that both motherhood and nature are exploited by a patriarchal culture focused on competition and material gain. In addition, by highlighting the narcissism of her male protagonist, who presumably represents a socially admired standard of normalcy, she undermines the narrative of superiority that privileges a white patriarchy.

Title:	The reality of fiction: diagnosing white culture through the lens of mother/nature in Zora Neale Hurston's Seraph on the Suwanee.	166 views 91 downloads
Name(s):	Butler, Rita C. Florida Atlantic University Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters Department of English
Type of Resource:	text
Genre:	Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance:	monographic
Date Issued:	2008
Publisher:	Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form:	electronic
Extent:	viii, 162 p.
Language(s):	English
Summary:	Zora Neale Hurston's last published novel, Seraph on the Suwanee, can be read as a sociopolitical critique of what she once referred to as the false foundation of Anglo-Saxon civilization. An overview of the history of race as a concept and the development of racial awareness in the United States provides a background/context for understanding the world Hurston was diagnosing: her analysis implies that the social construction of whiteness contains within its ideology the seeds of its own destruction. Feminist notions of origin, context, and foundation highlight the narcissistic nature of patriarchal social systems that exploit not only the female body but nature as well. In a society that supposedly honors the maternal and praises the beauty of nature, Hurston's novel suggests that both motherhood and nature are exploited by a patriarchal culture focused on competition and material gain. In addition, by highlighting the narcissism of her male protagonist, who presumably represents a socially admired standard of normalcy, she undermines the narrative of superiority that privileges a white patriarchy.
Identifier:	276770312 (oclc), 108065 (digitool), FADT108065 (IID), fau:2810 (fedora)
Note(s):	by Rita C. Butler. Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. Includes bibliography. Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, FL : 2008 Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subject(s):	Hurston, Zora Neale Hurston, Zora Neale Race awareness in literature
Held by:	FBoU FABOC
Persistent Link to This Record:	http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/108065
Use and Reproduction:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution:	FAU

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