Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
More than Merely a Flesh Wound: Medieval Archetypes, “Monster Theory,” and _Madness and Civilization_ in Ann Pancake’s _Strange as this Weather Has Been_
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
In a society predisposed to the bombardment of disaster porn and anthropomorphic auguries, it is the common folly to adopt a collective mindset of disaster fatigue, allowing the latest hurricane death toll to be listlessly digested alongside the morning’s cereal without so as much of a reaction from the viewer. Such is especially true of Appalachia, where seemingly endless reports of poverty left in the wake of mining accidents and flooding have largely been met with disinterest from the majority of the world. Standing in opposition to this apathetic insipidity, Ann Pancake’s Strange as this Weather Has Been offers a cure to the plague of environmental indifference. By tapping into the junction that lies between history and present reality as proposed by Michel Foucault’s Madness and Civilization, Pancake populates her novel with characters that echo longstanding historical literary archetypes in order to cultivate an intimately raw image of humanity from which one can rarely walk away unaffected.
Set in a disparate West Virginian mining community, Pancake’s novel explores the effects of mountaintop removal mining on the local population over the course of three generations. Following the lives and misadventures of various members of the Yellowroot community, Pancake brings to light the at times riveting realities of perfunctory mining practices, coal-fueled politics, perpetually declining standards of living, and harrowing reassurances of an impending apocalypse that plague her characters as they learn to adapt and coexist in an increasingly post-anthropomorphic landscape. Drawing from Jeffery Cohen's "Monster Culture" and Michel Foucault’s Madness and Civilization, this essay proposes the employment of a Foucauldian lens in order to better understand the subtler nuances presented by Pancake through examining how they relate to a particular epoch in literary history─specifically, how Medieval archetypes play critical roles in the development of character in Ann Pancake’s Strange as this Weather Has Been. Through this retrospective analysis, the humanity of Pancake’s characters is revealed, thus offering life to those within Appalachia, giving faces to those streams of statistics that the world all too often ignores.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Drew Greenway is an English major at UAH whose interests include Appalachian literature, literary theory, horticulture, and musical composition.This will be his first conference.
More than Merely a Flesh Wound: Medieval Archetypes, “Monster Theory,” and _Madness and Civilization_ in Ann Pancake’s _Strange as this Weather Has Been_
In a society predisposed to the bombardment of disaster porn and anthropomorphic auguries, it is the common folly to adopt a collective mindset of disaster fatigue, allowing the latest hurricane death toll to be listlessly digested alongside the morning’s cereal without so as much of a reaction from the viewer. Such is especially true of Appalachia, where seemingly endless reports of poverty left in the wake of mining accidents and flooding have largely been met with disinterest from the majority of the world. Standing in opposition to this apathetic insipidity, Ann Pancake’s Strange as this Weather Has Been offers a cure to the plague of environmental indifference. By tapping into the junction that lies between history and present reality as proposed by Michel Foucault’s Madness and Civilization, Pancake populates her novel with characters that echo longstanding historical literary archetypes in order to cultivate an intimately raw image of humanity from which one can rarely walk away unaffected.
Set in a disparate West Virginian mining community, Pancake’s novel explores the effects of mountaintop removal mining on the local population over the course of three generations. Following the lives and misadventures of various members of the Yellowroot community, Pancake brings to light the at times riveting realities of perfunctory mining practices, coal-fueled politics, perpetually declining standards of living, and harrowing reassurances of an impending apocalypse that plague her characters as they learn to adapt and coexist in an increasingly post-anthropomorphic landscape. Drawing from Jeffery Cohen's "Monster Culture" and Michel Foucault’s Madness and Civilization, this essay proposes the employment of a Foucauldian lens in order to better understand the subtler nuances presented by Pancake through examining how they relate to a particular epoch in literary history─specifically, how Medieval archetypes play critical roles in the development of character in Ann Pancake’s Strange as this Weather Has Been. Through this retrospective analysis, the humanity of Pancake’s characters is revealed, thus offering life to those within Appalachia, giving faces to those streams of statistics that the world all too often ignores.
