This dissertation investigates the ordinary, public performances of fictional female characters in novels set on the streets of Manhattan during the years of legal segregation in the United States. I examine a range of actions from bragging to racial passing, and I argue these ordinary performances are central to our ability to interpret race, gender, and class relations. I detect race, class, and gender-based impulses to segregate and exclude others that overlap with the motives guiding the national, legal edict to segregate people by race. These guiding inclinations, legible through the history of Manhattan's grid, zoning laws, and the city officials' treatment of the poor, for example, are also the tendencies directing fictional characters in the texts I explore. By considering fictional performances against the backdrop of actual history, I ask how and why both real and imagined people aim to squelch singularity or uniqueness in themselves or others. I argue that while some performances deaden the fictional actors, others suggest there are alternative modes of acting through which one might be empowered by abjection despite it.
","abstract_html":"<p>This dissertation investigates the ordinary, public performances of fictional female characters in novels set on the streets of Manhattan during the years of legal segregation in the United States. I examine a range of actions from bragging to racial passing, and I argue these ordinary performances are central to our ability to interpret race, gender, and class relations. I detect race, class, and gender-based impulses to segregate and exclude others that overlap with the motives guiding the national, legal edict to segregate people by race. These guiding inclinations, legible through the history of Manhattan's grid, zoning laws, and the city officials' treatment of the poor, for example, are also the tendencies directing fictional characters in the texts I explore. By considering fictional performances against the backdrop of actual history, I ask how and why both real and imagined people aim to squelch singularity or uniqueness in themselves or others. I argue that while some performances deaden the fictional actors, others suggest there are alternative modes of acting through which one might be empowered by abjection despite it. </p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Gale, Erin Nicholson"],"institution":"The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Robert Reid-Pharr"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-05-27T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2015-05-27T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:59:54Z","subjects":["American Literature","Literature in English, North America","gender; New York City; performance; race; space; urban"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/937","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Robert Reid-Pharr"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Gale, Erin Nicholson"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2017-05-27T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["American Literature","Literature in English, North America","gender; New York City; performance; race; space; urban"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/937"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This dissertation investigates the ordinary, public performances of fictional female characters in novels set on the streets of Manhattan during the years of legal segregation in the United States. I examine a range of actions from bragging to racial passing, and I argue these ordinary performances are central to our ability to interpret race, gender, and class relations. I detect race, class, and gender-based impulses to segregate and exclude others that overlap with the motives guiding the national, legal edict to segregate people by race. These guiding inclinations, legible through the history of Manhattan's grid, zoning laws, and the city officials' treatment of the poor, for example, are also the tendencies directing fictional characters in the texts I explore. By considering fictional performances against the backdrop of actual history, I ask how and why both real and imagined people aim to squelch singularity or uniqueness in themselves or others. I argue that while some performances deaden the fictional actors, others suggest there are alternative modes of acting through which one might be empowered by abjection despite it.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["New York City Street Theater: Gender, Performance, and the Urban from Plessy to Brown"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Robert Reid-Pharr"],"dc:creator":["Gale, Erin Nicholson"],"dc:date.available":["2017-05-27T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This dissertation investigates the ordinary, public performances of fictional female characters in novels set on the streets of Manhattan during the years of legal segregation in the United States. I examine a range of actions from bragging to racial passing, and I argue these ordinary performances are central to our ability to interpret race, gender, and class relations. I detect race, class, and gender-based impulses to segregate and exclude others that overlap with the motives guiding the national, legal edict to segregate people by race. These guiding inclinations, legible through the history of Manhattan's grid, zoning laws, and the city officials' treatment of the poor, for example, are also the tendencies directing fictional characters in the texts I explore. By considering fictional performances against the backdrop of actual history, I ask how and why both real and imagined people aim to squelch singularity or uniqueness in themselves or others. I argue that while some performances deaden the fictional actors, others suggest there are alternative modes of acting through which one might be empowered by abjection despite it.
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