Bourgeois Blues: Class, Whiteness, and Southern Gothic in Early Faulkner and Caldwell

The article analyzes how class and racial identity (whiteness) are represented in the early Southern Gothic works of American authors William Faulkner and Erskine Caldwell. It argues that their fiction not only reflects but also interrogates social hierarchies in the American South, especially the cultural dynamics of class and the ideological position of white identity within that region. The author examines how Southern Gothic elements — such as grotesque characters, social decay, and haunting pasts — intersect with issues of poverty, social stratification, and racial norms in their writing.

The analysis highlights that Southern Gothic literature often opposes nostalgic myths about the South by exposing its underlying social tensions and inequalities. By emphasizing class tensions and the construction of whiteness, the article shows how Faulkner and Caldwell’s narratives problematize traditional Southern values and reveal deeper cultural anxieties about status, identity, and power.

Loại tài liệu:

Article - Bài báo

Tác giả:

Palmer, Louis

Đề mục:

American literature

Nhà xuất bản:

The Johns Hopkins University Press

Ngày xuất bản:

Fall 2006

Số trang/ tờ:

Định dạng:

pdf

Nguồn gốc:

The Faulkner Journal, Volume 22, Number 1/2, Fall 2006, Pages 120-139,210

Liên kết:

ISSN 0884-2949

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Bourgeois Blues: Class, Whiteness, and Southern Gothic in Early Faulkner and Caldwell

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