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The delusion of the nostalgic cure in Ethan Frome and The return of the soldier
Descriptive
TitleInfo
Title
The delusion of the nostalgic cure in Ethan Frome and The return of the soldier
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Hunter
NamePart
(type = given)
Jennifer A.
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Jennifer Hunter
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(authority = RULIB)
author
Name
(type = personal)
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Singley
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Carol
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Carol Singley
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Advisory Committee
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chair
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Barbarese
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Joseph
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Joseph Barbarese
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Advisory Committee
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co-chair
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NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
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degree grantor
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Camden Graduate School
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school
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Text
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theses
OriginInfo
DateCreated
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2012
DateOther
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2012-01
Place
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xx
Language
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eng
Abstract
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Ethan Frome (1911) by Edith Wharton and The Return of the Soldier (1918) by Rebecca West describe a psychological journey and also document a cultural moment. Written at the genesis of modernism, they express the anxiety about fragmentation of society that began with the industrial revolution and climaxes with World War I. In these texts this fragmentation is represented through suppressed desire, broken masculinity, and wasted potential. To cope with this cumulative trauma the primary male characters, Ethan Frome and Chris Baldry, use nostalgia, a sentimental and romantic longing for a past that did not exist, to recreate the circumstances of their youth. Existing in the past, however, has dire consequences, for as Ethan and Chris attempt to recreate the circumstances of their youth, they also, as Freud theorizes, repeat, relearn, and relive their trauma. In this way, nostalgia is not only inauthentic, but also damaging. Their respective lovers, Mattie and Margaret, who at first appear to be saviors in Ethan and Chris’s nostalgic delusions by activating their life instinct, actually become angels of death, driving them toward a bleak future and their inevitable demise. Ethan and Chris are pawns by which Wharton and West demonstrate the illusion of romanticism and its failure to act as cure. Nostalgia is only a temporary palliative, a placebo, masking reality.
Subject
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Topic
English
Subject
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Topic
Nostalgia in literature
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Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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ETD
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Title
Camden Graduate School Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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rucore10005600001
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ETD_3823
Identifier
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http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10005600001.ETD.000063965
Identifier
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doi:10.7282/T3WD3ZKN
PhysicalDescription
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electronic resource
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application/pdf
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text/xml
Extent
iii, 47 p.
Note
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M.A.
Note
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Includes bibliographical references
Note
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by Jennifer A. Hunter
Subject
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Wharton, Edith, 1862-1937.--Ethan frome
Subject
Name
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West, Rebecca, 1892-1983.--Return of the soldier
Location
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NjNbRU
Genre
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ETD graduate
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Rights
RightsDeclaration
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The author owns the copyright to this work.
RightsHolder
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Name
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Hunter
GivenName
Jennifer
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RightsEvent
Type
Permission or license
DateTime
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2012-01-16 17:17:31
AssociatedEntity
Name
Jennifer Hunter
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Affiliation
Rutgers University. Camden Graduate School
AssociatedObject
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License
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Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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Technical
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163328
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