Committee Chair

Noe, Marcia

Committee Member

Prevost, Verbie; Smith, Joyce; Ingraham, Lauren

Department

Dept. of English

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

This thesis looks at the importance of folklore in Eudora Welty's The Wide Net and Other Stories. Folklore fulfills several functions in this collection of stories: it connects the characters within the stories to their culture and the people around them as it highlights the differences between the stark real world and the idealistic folkloric world; folklore also creates a more realistic and relatable experience for the readers of Welty's fiction while Welty allows herself to intertwine her local folklore with more universally known folklore in order to show her respect for her local lore as she allows herself the freedom to expand her writing beyond Southern folklore. Eudora Welty takes folklore from all over the world in order to create settings and characters that seem familiar to her readers, no matter where those readers are from. She is able to take a folkloric ideal and translate it into modem Southern society, and in doing so, Welty creates a successful collection of stories which have folkloric referents and themes.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Dr. Marcia Noe for her help and support throughout my time at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Especially during my thesis work, Dr. Noe's guidance has proven invaluable and her advice always beneficial. I would, also, like to thank Dr. Verbie Prevost, Dr. Joyce Smith, and Dr. Lauren Ingraham for agreeing to participate in my thesis committee. I very much appreciate the support and guidance offered by the members of my thesis committee.

Degree

M. A.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts.

Date

12-2009

Subject

Folklore in literature; American literature--Southern States

Name

Welty, Eudora 1909-2001--Criticism and interpretation

Discipline

English Language and Literature

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

iv, 64 leaves

Language

English

Call Number

LB2369.2 .P462 2009

Rights

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

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