Date of Award
Fall 12-2013
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
English
School
Humanities
Committee Chair
Maureen Ryan
Committee Chair Department
English
Committee Member 2
Jonathan Barron
Committee Member 2 Department
English
Committee Member 3
Kathryn Cochran
Committee Member 3 Department
English
Committee Member 4
Charles Sumner
Committee Member 4 Department
English
Committee Member 5
Ellen Weinauer
Committee Member 5 Department
English
Abstract
My dissertation analyzes American identity in the works of John Updike, Toni Morrison, and Philip Roth. Specifically, I examine American identity in Updike’s Rabbit tetralogy (1960-1990); Morrison’s trilogy of novels Beloved (1987), Jazz (1992), and Paradise (1998); and Roth’s trilogy comprising the novels American Pastoral (1997), I Married a Communist (1998), and The Human Stain (2000). The studied texts of these three novelists, I argue, attack national myths and undermine exclusive narratives that are incongruent with the nation’s ideal identity as a pluralistic and democratic nation.
Copyright
2013, Christopher Steven Love
Recommended Citation
Love, Christopher Steven, "Updike, Morrison, and Roth: The Politics of American Identity" (2013). Dissertations. 229.
https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/229