ENG250Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Frederick Jackson Turner, Willa Cather, Frontier Thesis
Document Summary
Themes in american literature from last term: the pasto(cid:396)al d(cid:396)ea(cid:373) of a(cid:373)e(cid:396)i(cid:272)a: wi(cid:374)th(cid:396)op"s ope(cid:374) (cid:449)ilde(cid:396)(cid:374)ess to fitzge(cid:396)ald"s g(cid:396)ee(cid:374) (cid:271)(cid:396)east, house of mirth, etc. ; tension between beautiful vision of a natural ideal and the world of money, materialism, constraining world of social values: p(cid:396)i(cid:448)a(cid:272)y; lily ba(cid:396)t"s desi(cid:396)e fo(cid:396) p(cid:396)i(cid:448)a(cid:272)y, i(cid:374)depe(cid:374)de(cid:374)(cid:272)e. In the late 19th century, conflict between common values and the emersonian personal, inner truth; the latter needs protection from the intrusions of public. Idea of the singular american: representation of women in this regard; (cid:449)hat is fe(cid:373)i(cid:374)i(cid:374)ity"s (cid:396)ole, symbolic women and personification, virginal metaphor for american frontier land (cid:862)colu(cid:373)(cid:271)ia(cid:863), fe(cid:373)ale pe(cid:396)so(cid:374)ifi(cid:272)atio(cid:374) of a(cid:373)e(cid:396)i(cid:272)a he(cid:396)self a(cid:374)d othe(cid:396) fo(cid:396)(cid:373)s. Implicit critique of the corrupt, industrial present: the other frontier myths: buffalo bill, uses emerging rail transport and mass media to become a massive cultural sensation. Looks older than he is, attuned to the negative; a victim of his own nostalgic reminiscence and idealization: views history as a process of decline.
