This thesis examines Fred Chappell’s virtually overlooked collection of poetry Family Gathering (2000), and how the poems operate within the mode of the grotesque. I argue that the poems illuminate both the southern grotesque and Roland Barthes’s theory of photography’s Operator, Spectator, and Spectrum. I address Family Gathering as a family photo album full of still shots, snapshots, and even selfies, which illumines how Chappell’s use of the grotesque in this collection derives more from its original association with visual arts rather than only depicting the grotesque typically associated with characteristics deemed explicitly shocking or terrifying. I argue that reading Chappell’s poems as photographs with grotesque qualities allows us to consider multiple ways Chappell draws on various definitions of the grotesque, informed by Barthes’s theory of photography. Finally, I argue that the collection allows us to consider the grotesque as a spectrum that exists simultaneously alongside what we might call normal.
","abstract_html":"<p>This thesis examines Fred Chappell’s virtually overlooked collection of poetry <em>Family Gathering </em>(2000), and how the poems operate within the mode of the grotesque. I argue that the poems illuminate both the southern grotesque and Roland Barthes’s theory of photography’s <em>Operator, Spectator, </em>and <em>Spectrum</em>. I address <em>Family Gathering </em>as a family photo album full of still shots, snapshots, and even selfies, which illumines how Chappell’s use of the grotesque in this collection derives more from its original association with visual arts rather than only depicting the grotesque typically associated with characteristics deemed explicitly shocking or terrifying. I argue that reading Chappell’s poems as photographs with grotesque qualities allows us to consider multiple ways Chappell draws on various definitions of the grotesque, informed by Barthes’s theory of photography. Finally, I argue that the collection allows us to consider the grotesque as a spectrum that exists simultaneously alongside what we might call normal.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Moore, Jonathan"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Katherine Cochran","Monika Gehlawat","Emily Stanback"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-12-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2018-12-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:44:50Z","subjects":["Poetry","Grotesque","Photography","Fred Chappell","Southern Grotesque","Appalachia","Roland Barthes","Appalachian Poetry","Camera Lucida","American Literature","Appalachian Studies","Literature in English, North America","Modern Literature"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/597","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Katherine Cochran","Monika Gehlawat","Emily Stanback"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Moore, Jonathan"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2018-10-18T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Poetry","Grotesque","Photography","Fred Chappell","Southern Grotesque","Appalachia","Roland Barthes","Appalachian Poetry","Camera Lucida","American Literature","Appalachian Studies","Literature in English, North America","Modern Literature"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/597"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis examines Fred Chappell’s virtually overlooked collection of poetry Family Gathering (2000), and how the poems operate within the mode of the grotesque. I argue that the poems illuminate both the southern grotesque and Roland Barthes’s theory of photography’s Operator, Spectator, and Spectrum. I address Family Gathering as a family photo album full of still shots, snapshots, and even selfies, which illumines how Chappell’s use of the grotesque in this collection derives more from its original association with visual arts rather than only depicting the grotesque typically associated with characteristics deemed explicitly shocking or terrifying. I argue that reading Chappell’s poems as photographs with grotesque qualities allows us to consider multiple ways Chappell draws on various definitions of the grotesque, informed by Barthes’s theory of photography. Finally, I argue that the collection allows us to consider the grotesque as a spectrum that exists simultaneously alongside what we might call normal.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Return of the Dead: Resurrecting Chappell's Family Gathering"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Katherine Cochran","Monika Gehlawat","Emily Stanback"],"dc:creator":["Moore, Jonathan"],"dc:date.available":["2018-10-18T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis examines Fred Chappell’s virtually overlooked collection of poetry Family Gathering (2000), and how the poems operate within the mode of the grotesque. I argue that the poems illuminate both the southern grotesque and Roland Barthes’s theory of photography’s Operator, Spectator, and Spectrum. I address Family Gathering as a family photo album full of still shots, snapshots, and even selfies, which illumines how Chappell’s use of the grotesque in this collection derives more from its original association with visual arts rather than only depicting the grotesque typically associated with characteristics deemed explicitly shocking or terrifying. I argue that reading Chappell’s poems as photographs with grotesque qualities allows us to consider multiple ways Chappell draws on various definitions of the grotesque, informed by Barthes’s theory of photography. Finally, I argue that the collection allows us to consider the grotesque as a spectrum that exists simultaneously alongside what we might call normal.
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