Images of the hunter in American life and literature.
Item
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Title
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Images of the hunter in American life and literature.
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Identifier
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AAI9720081
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identifier
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9720081
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Creator
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Coupe, Lynda Wolfe.
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Contributor
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Adviser: William P. Kelly
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Date
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1997
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, American | American Studies | History, United States
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Abstract
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Representations of the hunter appear in a variety of American literary texts and cultural contexts. This figure evolves throughout American history, reflecting the initial rebellion against European aristocracy and then the growing independent spirit of the new nation. The hunter's power derives from the skill to survive, and what is more, to thrive in the vast American landscape. He blazes the trail that makes settlement possible, but the hunter is a liminal figure, one who traverses opposing worlds of wilderness and civilization. He participates in both but does not completely belong to either, making him at once privileged and marginal.;As the nation grows, permutations of the hunter figure suggest shifts in the locus of power. Specifically, over time he represents the power to create the new nation, to develop it, to expand its power across the continent and the globe, to transcend degenerate forces that threaten it, and ultimately the power for any American, male or female, to reinvent and define his/her identity. The hunter's practical skills, as well as his mythic connotations and the language used to describe him, all contribute to a changing concept of power.;I examine pairs of representative hunters from American literature and culture and how they reflect American concerns with landscape and identity, as well as gender and race. First, I consider Pocahontas and John Smith as metaphorical parents of the hunter figure. I then argue that Daniel Boone and Natty Bumppo embody the amalgamation of Indian and European into a distinctly American hunter. Next, I look at Theodore Roosevelt and William "Buffalo Bill" Cody as models of Americs's growing domestic and international power. I then argue that Isaac McCaslin from William Faulkner's "The Bear" and Ernest Hemingway overcome degenerate forces in the culture that threaten the individual. Finally, I see Thomas McGuane and Ayla from Auel's "The Clan of the Cave Bear" as figures that find the strength to redefine their identity through hunting. The pairs reflect oppositions of high/low, fictive/real, writer/figure, myth/history within American culture. They appear as actors in the unfolding events of their historical periods and/or as representations of American power in art and culture.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
