25th Annual Student Research Conference
Framing the Strange: An Analysis of Naturalization by Genre Cues at Work with Sherwood Anderson's "Hands"
Matthew A. Sluder
Dr. Royce Kallerud, Faculty Mentor
This paper examines naturalization (the process by which we translate strange features of literature like figures of speech into language we can understand) by genre cues (signals that alert us to what we are reading) in practice by analyzing Sherwood Anderson's "Hands," from Winesburg, Ohio. I point out the story's specific peculiarities in form and content (e.g., the narrator's dance between reporting and opining, the characterization of the main character's hands) as well as the general peculiarities of the short story genre like the paragraph form. I recognize the expectations we have, based upon the story's genre, as a key to understanding passages like the underwhelming, open-ended last paragraph in which the protagonist eats bread crumbs from his dining room floor. This paper expands upon the role of genre in Jonathan Culler's concept of naturalization by supplementing it with concepts such as genre cues from genre theorist John Frow.
Keywords: naturalization, genre theory, Sherwood Anderson, "Hands", Winesburg, Ohio, Jonathan Culler, structuralism, John Frow
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 105-1
Location: MG 1096
Time: 8:00