Year of Award

2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Name

English (Literature)

Department or School/College

Department of English

Committee Chair

Casey Charles

Commitee Members

Lynn Itagaki, Ruth Vanita

Keywords

AIDS, Alternative Families, Family, Sentimental and Domestic Literature

Abstract

Primarily through the experiences of his gay protagonists, Michael Cunningham critiques the heteronormative nuclear family structure of the 1950s and depicts alternatives to it. Drawing on the work of feminist critics who focus on the political intent of American women authors during the nineteenth century, the findings of family historians who examine families of the 1950s, and the work of anthropologist Kath Weston, I argue that Michael Cunningham represents domesticity in ways that promote readers' appreciation of and support for alternative family models.

Share

COinS
 

© Copyright 2007 Tracy Joy Struck