Identity Crossings and the Autobiographical Act in Willa Cather's My Ántonia

Hoffmann, Karen A.

doi:10.1353/arq.2002.0013

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Cather's work stresses the difficulties of new settlers on the West and the frontier. Due to that, a large portion of the research on My Ántonia has focused on the relationship between immigrants and the construction of an American national identity (see tellefsen 1999 ;Goggans 2003;Brown 2005), as well as on its female protagonist and her intersectionality, that is, Ántonia's disadvantageous position because of her gender and ethnicity (see Wussow 1995;irving 2000;Hoffmann 2002). roth's novel, on the other hand, leaves testimony of the experiences irish, italians and Jews might have had in urban spaces at the beginning of the century.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Quest for Whiteness in Willa Cather’s "My Ántonia" (1918) and Henry Roth’s "Call It Sleep" (1934)

Martínez

2021

J. engl. stud. (Logroño, internet)

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The aim of this paper is to trace the assimilation process of European immigrants to the United States at the turn of the century in Willa Cather’s My Ántonia (1918) and Henry Roth’s Call It Sleep (1934). Bearing in mind the historical relevance of race and whiteness in the United States, I analyse the changes performed by Cather’s and Roth’s protagonists in order to achieve the status of white. To this purpose, I provide a brief overview of the nature of whiteness in the United States and its epistemological changes to account for its importance within the novels. I then look at the transformations characters perform in terms of religious faith and gender norms, as well as their interaction with English and spaces to become integrated in the new land. In doing so, differences between the novels arise, but so does a subtext of violence common to the immigrant experience.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%