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The Bleeding of America Menstruation as Symbolic Economy in Pynchon, Faulkner, and Morrison
Book Code: GM2059
ISBN: 0-313-32059-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-32059-0
200 pages
Greenwood Press
Publication: 9/30/2002
List Price: $98.95 (UK Sterling Price: £57.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Series Title: Contributions in Women's Studies
Series Number: 195
Reviews:
  • [T]his is a really important book....Like the best pieces of scholarship I have encountered, this book has permanently altered my perception of the canon.
    —Pynchon Notes
    Spring-Fall 2002
  • [D]ana Medoro lucidly examines the pervasive, though unacknowledged, presence of menstrual bleeding in American fiction....Although Medoro sometimes attempts too much, tackling all of American literary history, ancient myth, numerous schools of critical theory, and many primary texts, her contribution to feminist theory should not be overlooked. Her willingness to engage with the taboo subject of menstruation produces innovative readings and original lines of inquiry. She has broken critical ground that is certain to prompt a new interest in this approach to American literary studies.
    —Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature
    Fall 2003
  • Endorsement From John M. Krafft
    Editor,Pynchon Notes:
    The baptism in blood Medoro offers us is a welcome therapeutic counter to the horror of masculinist bloodletting that characterizes so much of American history and culture. Her bold and insightful study puts a non-exclusionary, non-divisive promise back into the myth of the promised land. IThe Bleeding of America is a powerful, eloquent and inspiring revision of American fiction.
  • Endorsement From Steven Weisenberger
    Professor of English
    University of Lexington, Kentucky:
    The Bleeding of America is an important book for a wide range of scholars. Anyone interested in the three authors studied must read these chapters, as should any scholar working on twentieth century American fiction. There are powerful insights here for others working in women's studies, feminist critiques of the American canon, post-structuralist criticism, and American studies.
Description: Working from the premise that the Puritan construction of America as a return to Eden endures into American literature of the 20th century, Medoro focuses on the rhetoric of cyclical regeneration, blood, and damnation that accompanies this construction. She argues that a semiotics of menstruation infuses this rhetoric and informs the figuration of a feminine America in the nation's literary tradition: America, as a New World Eden, is haunted not only by the Fall, but also by the "Curse of Eve." Placing Thomas Pynchon, William Faulkner, and Toni Morrison within this tradition, this book demonstrates that their novels link variations on the figure of the menstruating woman both to the bloody history of the United States and to a vision of the nation's redemptive promise. Detailed readings of 9 novels--3 by each author--track references to menstruation and illuminate its tropological prevalence. The readings then develop a theory of menstruation as a kind of antidote functioning within narratives of violently spilled blood and blood purity. Each chapter draws on a range of disciplines--from medical history and mythography to anthropology and psychoanalysis--and situates its analysis of menstruation in relation to contemporary theories of female sexuality, human evolution, and the sacred.
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction
  • Thomas Pynchon: Blood, Tears, and War
  • William Faulkner: There's a Curse on Us
  • Toni Morrison: Daughters of Jerusalem
  • Conclusion
  • Selected Bibliographyfully
  • Index
LC Card Number: 2001055639
LCC Class: PS374
Dewey Class: 813
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