Date of Graduation
5-2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in English (MA)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
English
Advisor/Mentor
Lisa Hinrichsen
Committee Member
Sean Dempsey
Second Committee Member
Yajaira Padilla
Keywords
Language, literature and linguistics, Philosophy, religion and theology, Cather, Chaos theory, Deconstruction, Mysticism, Pragmatism, Southwest
Abstract
This work aims to explore the themes of pragmatism and liminality, particularly as they pertain to spirituality, in Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop. By taking an interdisciplinary critical approach to the novel, I will synthesize its spiritual affect into a sensibility called “pragmatic liminality.” Finally, I will connect this sensibility to other works in the Southwestern literary canon and elucidate the foundational importance that pragmatic liminality has to the Southwestern “sense of place” and its role in the larger narratives of regionalism in American literature.
Citation
Blomstedt, A. C. (2016). Divining the Southwest: Liminality, Pragmatism, and Regionalism in "Death Comes for the Archbishop". Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/1591
Included in
American Literature Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons