On Bobbie Ann Mason's Rebellion Of American Southern Literary Traditions

Bobbie Ann Mason (1940-) is a great southern writer in the field of the contemporary American literature. She has produced lots of outstanding works and won many prizes. Mason's novels concern about the life of contemporary American southerners, reflect the development of American southern literature, and reveal the changes of the contemporary American southern literature. The characters she depicts don't indulge themselves in the glorious past or abide by the traditional culture of American South any more. They quest for the rebellious spirits and freedom endowed by postmodern culture, which indicates the self-searching, self-awareness and self-advancement of the new generation of American southerners in the changed social environment. Shiloh, In Country, and Feather Crowns are Mason's three most renowned works, in which Mason's southern characters, especially in the first two works, are seeking a free and comfortable life just like the other American people. In leisure time, they indulge themselves in such amusement as television, rock music and shopping, and have gradually forgotten the southerner's distinct historical consciousness, family romance and gender concept.This study tries to explore Mason's rebellious attitude of American southern literary traditions through analyzing the above three works. American southern literature has a long history and owns three distinct literary traditions:strong sense of history, southern family romance and traditional gender concept. For a long time, southern literature is a spotlight of Chinese scholars'research, and the study of American Southern Renaissance and its famous writers has made great achievements. However, the research on southern literature in the postmodern period is still a new topic (Li Yang 2006:2). Mason is an outstanding writer of postmodern southern literature, and her works keep distances from the southern literary traditions and indicate the changes of contemporary southern literature. On the basis of southern literature's three characteristics, this thesis explores Mason's works from these following aspects: loss of historical consciousness, disintegration of family romance and change of gender concept, in order to show Mason's rebellion of southern literary traditions.This thesis consists of six chapters, with four chapters coming between the introduction and conclusion.The first chapter is an introduction. Firstly, the author of this thesis introduces the social and literary background of this study, and then illustrates the American southern literature and its literary traditions. Thirdly, the author of this thesis introduces Mason's life and works, and points out that this thesis will focus on Mason's three most renowned works—Shiloh, In Country and Feather Crown. Finally, the author of this thesis introduces the framework of this thesis.Chapter Two is the literature review. The first part reviews the research on the American southern literature at home and abroad, points out that most scholars in China focus on the writers and works of American Southern Renaissance, and few researchers analyze the contemporary southern writers'rebellion of southern literary traditions. The second part is the literature review on Mason and her works. On the basis of the materials' analysis the author of this thesis did, it is found that few scholars have studied Mason and her works in China, and much fewer scholars have done research on Mason's rebellion of southern literary traditions.Chapter Three is the analysis of loss of historical sense in Mason's works. At first, the author of this thesis illustrates the strong historical sense of American southern literary traditions, and then analyses the historical sense of Mason's characters. For instances, the author of this thesis, in the analysis of Shiloh, discusses Norma Jean's ignorance of southern history and her disinterest in the southern historical relic. Through analyzing the loss of historical sense in Mason's works, the author of this thesis reveals Mason's rebellion of American southern literary traditions.Chapter Four is the analysis of disintegration of family romance in Mason's works. At first, the author of this thesis illustrates the family romance of American southern literary traditions, and then analyses the southern family in Mason's works. For instances, in the analysis of In Country, the author discusses the disintegration of Sam's family and the alienation of her family members. Through analyzing the disintegration of family romance in Mason's works, the author of this thesis reveals Mason's rebellion of American southern literary traditions.Chapter Five is the analysis of the change of gender concept in Mason's works. At first, the author of this thesis illustrates the gender concept of American southern literary traditions, and then analyzes the southern gender concept in Mason's works. For instances, the author of this thesis, in the analysis of Feather Crown, discusses heroine Christie's change of gender concept that she realizes women are not the attachment of men, and their relations in the family are equal. Through analyzing the change of gender concept in Mason's works, the author of this thesis reveals Mason's rebellion of American southern literary traditions.The last chapter is the conclusion part. Through analyzing the loss of historical sense, disintegration of family romance and change of gender concept in Mason's works, the author of this thesis reveals Mason's rebellion of southern literary traditions, and hopes that this study can make more Chinese researchers do research on Mason's works and pay attention to the changes of contemporary southern literature.