Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Atkinson, Ted

Committee Member

Bentley, Gregory

Committee Member

Marsh, Kelly

Date of Degree

8-6-2011

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

English

Degree Name

Master of Arts

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of English

Abstract

A consistent theme in author Bobbie Ann Mason's short story collection Shiloh and Other Stories is a break from the traditional religious customs of the U.S. South. As children become adults and move away and as marriages crumble, characters' Christian faith fades, entering their minds only frustrated disillusion. Through their scathing, sarcastic quips and references, Mason's characters exhibit distaste for the traditional attitude toward Christianity in the South. Therefore, Mason's stories deconstruct not only the notion of Christianity's role in the South, but that of the communal strength of family. Using Martyn Bone's definition of "postsouthern" literature in his book The Postsouthern Sense of Place in Contemporary Fiction as literature that shatters previous preconceptions of the South, this research seeks to show how Mason's work fits into this burgeoning literary realm although unmentioned in Bone's book.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/17889

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