“THE KINSHIP OF HER PAIN”: INTIMATE HEALING IN AMERICAN WOMEN’S FICTION

“‘the kinship of her pain:’ Intimate Healing in American Women’s Fiction” argues that in nineteenth and twentieth century American literature, women who teach each other about religion harness erotic power to upend patriarchal family structures. By attending to the nexus of theology, speculation, and homosocial religious devotion in sentimental and Afrofuturist fiction, I illuminate religiosity as a site of healing intimacy and the formation of non-heteronormative families. I organize my dissertation chapters thematically rather than chronologically, such that my first chapter on Phelps’ 1868 The Gates Ajar is followed by Octavia Butler’s 1998 Parable of the Talents. My third and final chapter returns to the nineteenth century with Warner’s 1850 The Wide, Wide World, and my conclusion addresses Toni Morrison’s Paradise.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D., English Language and Literature

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctor of Philosophy

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English Language and Literature

Grantor

Cornell University

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Thompson, Brianna

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• McCullough, Kate
• Caruth, Cathy

• erotic
• sentimental fiction
• speculative fiction
• touching

Statement dc:rights

• Attribution 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7298/vk14-rq55

Dc Identifier Other

ProQuest Submission ID: 12485
ProQuest Publication ID: 28491356

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ecommons.cornell.edu:1813/109811