AMERICAN LITERATURE READINGS IN THE 21ST CENTURY Navigating Women’s Friendships in American Literature and Culture Edited by Kristi Branham · Kelly L. Reames American Literature Readings in the 21st Century Series Editor Linda Wagner-Martin University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC, USA American Literature Readings in the Twenty-First Century publishes works by contemporary authors that help shape critical opinion regarding American literature of the eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-fi rst centu- ries. The books treat fiction, poetry, memoir, drama and criticism itself— ranging from William Dow’s Narrating Class in American Fiction and Amy Strong’s Race and Identity in Hemingway’s Fiction, to Maisha L. Wester’s African American Gothic and Guy Davidson’s Queer Commodities: Contemporary U. S. Fiction, Consumer Culture, and Lesbian Subcultures . Beginning in 2004, the series is now well established and continues to welcome new book proposals. Manuscripts run between 80,000 and 90,000 words, while the Pivot format accommodates shorter books of 25,000 to 50,000 words. This series also accepts essay collections; among our bestsellers have been collections on David Foster Wallace, Norman Mailer, Contemporary U.S. Latina/o Literary Criticism, Kurt Vonnegut, Kate Chopin, Carson McCullers, George Saunders, and Arthur Miller (written by members of the Miller Society). All texts are designed to create valuable interactions globally as well as within English-speaking countries. Editorial Board: Professor Derek Maus, SUNY Potsdam, USA Professor Thomas Fahy, Long Island University, USA Professor Deborah E. McDowell, University of Virginia and Director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute, USA Professor Laura Rattray, University of Glasgow, UK Kristi Branham • Kelly L. Reames Editors Navigating Women’s Friendships in American Literature and Culture Editors Kristi Branham Kelly L. Reames Gender and Women’s Studies Department of English Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, KY, USA Bowling Green, KY, USA ISSN 2634-579X ISSN 2634-5803 (electronic) American Literature Readings in the 21st Century ISBN 978-3-031-08002-9 ISBN 978-3-031-08003-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08003-6 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: beastfromeast This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland A cknowledgements We would like to thank first and foremost our contributors for their time, ideas, and insights. We must also thank Md Saif, production editor at Palgrave-Springer, who has patiently and compassionately guided us through the compilation of this book. Western Kentucky University pro- vided us time to work on this book in the form of a sabbatical (Kristi) and an award from the English Department (Kelly). And Sari Shuler provided able and expedient research assistance. We are grateful to them all. v c ontents 1 Introduction: Navigating Women’s Friendships into the Twenty-First Century 1 Kristi Branham and Kelly L. Reames Part I Friendship as Identity 13 2 Entangled Roots: “Old Friends” Reconnected in Ruth Ozeki’s All Over Creation 15 Marie Drews 3 The Gothic’s Creation of Women’s Friendship in Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House 41 Megan M. Peabody and Mikkaila Poulin 4 Political Progress and Social Stall: Groupthink, Smart Talk, and Mary McCarthy’s Friendship Novel 63 Cassandra Fetters 5 Girlfriend Epistemology in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple 85 Tangela Serls vii viii CoNTENTS Part II Friendship as Support 103 6 “We Will Work Together”: Interclass Women’s Collabships in Progressive Era Novels 105 Alicia Matheny Beeson 7 Fleur’s Kinship, Pauline’s Whiteness: How Colonization Shapes Friendship in Louise Erdrich’s Tracks 129 Rachel B. Griffis 8 “What Obligation Do I Have Toward Her?”: College Girl Friendships and Self- Actualization in Hangsaman and The Bell Jar 149 Julie ooms 9 “The Tenderness of One Woman for Another”: Female Friendship and Revolt in the Twentieth-Century Works of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman 175 Susan M. Stone Part III Friendship as Challenge 201 10 “Feeling You Near”: Georgia O’Keeffe’s Friendship with Mary Callery 203 Linda M. Grasso 11 “These Sweet Trees”: Alice Walker, June Jordan, and Womanist Friendship 239 Cheryl R. Hopson 12 Chicana Visions: Ana Castillo and Cherríe Moraga’s Friendship, Falling Out, and Forgiveness 253 Leigh Johnson CoNTENTS ix 13 Beat-Associated Women and Female Relationships in Carolyn Cassady’s Off the Road 269 Josette Lorig 14 “I Prefer to Think That History Made Her:” Exploring the Relationship Between Alice Dunbar-Nelson and Edwina Kruse Through This Lofty Oak 293 Monet Lewis-Timmons Index 321 n c otes on ontributors Alicia Matheny Beeson is an assistant professor of English at West Virginia University at Parkersburg where she teaches writing and litera- ture. Her research interests include American women writers, utopian and dystopian studies, the Progressive Era, and literature and composition pedagogy. Her work has recently been published in CEA Critic and Reconsidering Flannery O’Connor. Kristi Branham is an Associate Professor at Western Kentucky University. Her research focuses on U.S. women’s popular culture, women’s work and caring labor, and the ethics of care in higher education. She has pub- lished articles in the Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, Journal of American Studies, Literature and Film Quarterly, and contrib- uted to the edited collection Home Sweat Home: Perspectives on House Work and Modern Relationships. Marie Drews is Associate Professor of English at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Her research focuses on representations of women’s lives and identities in American literature, particularly in food-related narratives and narratives involving the reproductive experience. Along with Monika Elbert, she co-edited Culinary Aesthetics and Practices in Nineteenth- Century American Literature (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009). At Luther, she regularly works with students in the first-year interdisciplinary Paideia pro- gram and teaches courses in women’s and American literature. Cassandra Fetters is an Associate Professor of English in the Department of English, Languages, and Fine Arts at the University of Cincinnati, xi