Date of Award
7-17-2009
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
First Advisor
Dr. Pearl Amelia McHaney - Chair
Second Advisor
Dr. Calvin Thomas
Third Advisor
Dr. Thomas McHaney
Abstract
Eudora Welty’s characterization of George Fairchild (Delta Wedding) queers the heroic masculine ideal, St George, whose legendary exploits have been popularized in narrative literature, Catholic iconography, and children’s fairy tale. Lauded by the Fairchild women for his “difference,” George’s sexuality offers him an identity apart from the suffocating Fairchild family myth. George Fairchild’s queer sexuality and homoeroticism augments our critical understanding of Delta Wedding, the character, as well as other characters. The author’s subtly politicized construction of the novel’s ostensible hero subverts literary tradition, the gender binary, and patriarchal myth.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/1059523
Recommended Citation
Wallace, James R., "Taking Eudora Welty's Text Out of the Closet: Delta Wedding's George Fairchild and the Queering of Saint George." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2009.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/1059523