Project Director

Prevost, Verbie

Department

Dept. of English

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Kaye Gibbons, a contemporary Southern writer, attracted almost immediate attention with the publication of her first novel Ellen Foster in 1987. Awarded the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters' Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction, Ellen Foster was warmly received by both the critics and the public. According to Alice Hoffman, readers trust Ellen Foster even though her misfortunes border on the Gothic, and they anxiously follow her adventures because Gibbons "focuses on Ellen's strengths rather than her victimization, presenting a heroine who rescues herself" (13). Telling her story as if she were "her own maker and redeemer," Ellen recounts a life centered around escaping "not only the brutality of her father but the equally oppressive gentility of her grandmother and aunt" (Wood 843). Ellen is a character "determined to outwit her predestined fate" (Bell 38). Although Gibbons's first three novels vary significantly in form, a dominant theme is common to all of them: the theme of female-made order. The 3 female characters in these works find t hemselves in a chaotic world, but they are strong characters who refuse to succumb to the disorder, choosing rather to manipulate their environment or, if necessary, even to create a new one so that they can establish order in their lives.

Degree

B. A.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Arts.

Date

3-1994

Subject

American literature--Southern States

Name

Gibbons, Kaye, 1960-

Discipline

Literature in English, North America

Document Type

Theses

Extent

i, 42 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Call Number

LB2369.5 .D843 1994

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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