Mode of Program Participation
Academic Scholarship
Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
Emily Brontë in Crum, WV: Reading Emily's Ghost as an Appalachian Novel
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
In keeping with the theme of the conference, both Lee Maynard's Crum trilogy and Denise Giardina's Storming Heaven and its sequel The Unquiet Earth can clearly be read as Appalachian protest novels. This paper argues for a reading of Giardina's Emily's Ghost as not only an Appalachian protest novel but also as the third novel in a trilogy including Storming Heaven and The Unquiet Earth. After reviewing the form and purpose of a trilogy, as represented traditionally in Maynard's work, the paper considers a revision to the form and explains how Appalachian values operate in Emily's Ghost and connect it to Giardina's other works. Building on the work of Loyal Jones and other Appalachian scholars, as well as an analysis of the three Crum novels, to establish a framework for a definition of Appalachian values, the paper concludes that Giardina has indeed written a contemporary trilogy.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Thomas J. Kiddie, Jr., is an Associate Professor of English at West Virginia State University and has a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Rutgers University. His primary research interests focus on nineteenth and early twentieth-century British, American, and Hispanic narrative.
Emily Brontë in Crum, WV: Reading Emily's Ghost as an Appalachian Novel
In keeping with the theme of the conference, both Lee Maynard's Crum trilogy and Denise Giardina's Storming Heaven and its sequel The Unquiet Earth can clearly be read as Appalachian protest novels. This paper argues for a reading of Giardina's Emily's Ghost as not only an Appalachian protest novel but also as the third novel in a trilogy including Storming Heaven and The Unquiet Earth. After reviewing the form and purpose of a trilogy, as represented traditionally in Maynard's work, the paper considers a revision to the form and explains how Appalachian values operate in Emily's Ghost and connect it to Giardina's other works. Building on the work of Loyal Jones and other Appalachian scholars, as well as an analysis of the three Crum novels, to establish a framework for a definition of Appalachian values, the paper concludes that Giardina has indeed written a contemporary trilogy.
