Date of Award
Spring 5-2011
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
English
School
Humanities
Committee Chair
Steven Barthelme
Committee Chair Department
English
Committee Member 2
Charles Sumner
Committee Member 2 Department
English
Committee Member 3
Monika Gehlawat
Committee Member 3 Department
English
Committee Member 4
Eric Tribunella
Committee Member 4 Department
English
Committee Member 5
James Robison
Committee Member 5 Department
English
Abstract
How to Remain Childlike examines themes of place and identity, focusing on how regionalism impacts the individual’s perception of self. The stories herein, set in the post-millennial South, focus on characters with a worldly recognition of prevailing misconceptions that cast Southerners as unsophisticated and anti-intellectual. Though these characters recognize the beauty of the South, they possess ambivalence toward the region, a desire to be less insular and more cosmopolitan. This ambivalence, a love for the South coupled with a longing to escape it, highlights the importance of place in the process of self-definition.
Copyright
2011, Billy Ray Middleton
Recommended Citation
Middleton, Billy Ray, "How to Remain Childlike" (2011). Dissertations. 481.
https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/481