Dying Protagonists in Two Gay Southern Novels: Randall Kenan’s A Visitation of Spirits and Jim Grimsley’s Dream Boy
The present article explores two southern novels, Randall Kenan’s A Visitation of Spirits (1989) and Jim Grimsley’s Dream Boy (1995). These two novels are at first sight a deviation from the contemporary tradition of coming-out (i.e., gay coming-of-age) novels, as their teenage protagonists do not...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Pardubice
2014-12-01
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| Series: | American and British Studies Annual |
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| Online Access: | https://absa.upce.cz/index.php/absa/article/view/2248 |
| Summary: | The present article explores two southern novels, Randall Kenan’s A Visitation of Spirits (1989) and Jim Grimsley’s Dream Boy (1995). These two novels are at first sight a deviation from the contemporary tradition of coming-out (i.e., gay coming-of-age) novels, as their teenage protagonists do not successfully develop a proud gay identity but die a violent death, by suicide and murder, respectively. However, a closer exploration of the texts themselves as well as the literary context will also reveal that even though both novels do constitute a departure from the previous tradition of gay coming-of-age novels by their extensive use of Gothic elements, they still contain a plausible story portraying the interplay of the social and psychological facets of growing up.
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| ISSN: | 1803-6058 2788-2233 |