Gary Totten, associate professor of English, has published two articles. His essay, “Imagining the American West in Wharton’s Short Fiction,” was published in The Journal of the Short Story in English. In the article, Totten examines Edith Wharton’s representation of the American West in her short stories, noting the negative cultural meanings she attaches to the West, including themes of entrapment, loss of opportunity and alienation, particularly for female characters.
In his book chapter, “Re-Authoring the Nineteenth Century: Morrison’s ‘Beloved’ and Stowe’s ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’ ” in “Inhabited by Stories: Critical Essays on Tales Retold,” Totten demonstrates how re-reading a 19th century novel about a slave mother’s experience, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” in relation to a contemporary re-telling of a similar story, such as Toni Morrison’s “Beloved,” highlights new ideas about race and gender in the earlier novel.
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