Women writers of American literary naturalism, 1892-1932

Agreeing with the position held by many feminist critics that the inclusion of women's writing necessarily refocuses the critical view of a given literary tradition, this dissertation argues that the inclusion of fiction by Chopin, Wharton, and Glasgow in the canon of American literary naturalism results in a new perspective on this influential genre. Critics of American naturalism have too often incorrectly assumed that the genre was created by only a few immature, turn-of-the-century, white, male writers employing facile concepts of Social Darwinism and biological determinism. Many critics have concluded, therefore, that naturalism is negligible in the context of an American literary history that values the participation of male and female writers.;I contend that naturalism is an important genre because male and female writers worked together both to lay the genre's foundation and to develop its themes and forms. My analysis of women writers' naturalistic fiction written between 1892-1905, including Chopin's The Awakening, Glasgow's The Descendant, and Wharton's "Bunner Sisters" and The House of Mirth, reveals these writers' innovative use of ideas about human evolution and sexual selection to challenge established gender roles. Moreover, an analysis of these writers' fiction from the mid-point of their literary careers during the 1910s, including Wharton's Ethan Frome and The Custom of the Country, and Glasgow's Virginia, and an analysis of the fiction from their later careers during 1920-1932, including The Age of Innocence and The Sheltered Life, foster critical understanding that, after the 1890s, naturalism developed themes of psychological and social determinism and naturalistic modern narrative techniques.;In these last five novels, Wharton and Glasgow developed unique naturalistic narratives in response to changes in social attitudes and institutions. Exploring the multifarious forces behind social changes, in their 1910s fiction, Wharton and Glasgow took up the widely debated issue of Motherhood as an American institution; in their 1920-1932 fiction, Wharton and Glasgow radically denounced the familial and social destructiveness underlying the unnatural ideal of Woman as a sexually chaste, selfless, and flawless beauty. Finally, recognizing these women's achievement in naturalism makes possible future inquiry into women's writers' contribution to the genre.