Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Date

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

English

Committee Chair

Donal Harris

Committee Member

Carey Mickalites

Committee Member

Kathy Lou Schultz

Abstract

The early 20th century through WWII saw a number of technological and societal shifts that changed the cultural landscape completely. Just as contemporary conversations around AI are fraught with fears of how the powerful can use it to further disenfranchise the marginalized, the innovations of the modernist period had significant social implications. Women were particularly affected as the end of the 19th century ushered in the “new woman,” women who rushed to urban areas and took advantage of new opportunities that allowed them more agency, a phenomenon that Jennifer Fleissner argues “feminized” American modernity. This project pairs the works of modernist women writers alongside women-authored archival accounts of the development of modern innovations, recovering feminine voices while analyzing the patriarchal, capitalist, and racist outcomes of these new technologies. Chapter 1 extends the metaphor of twilight sleep (a sedation drug used to accomplish “painless” childbirth) in Edith Wharton’s Twlight Sleep through women-authored archival accounts that engage with innovations in childbirth. I argue that ultimately, the result is female disembodiment. Chapter 2 reads Frances Hogsden Burnett’s The Secret Garden alongside archival records of playground development in the early 20th century to investigate how modern urbanization co-opts natural spaces, making /them sites of assimilation and learned gender-conformity. Finally, Chapter 3 will argue that artistic innovation is the antidote to corruption that is often a result of technologies used in service of systems of power. This chapter analyzes Muriel Rukeyser’s use of the documentary to create protest poetry and Zora Neale Hurston’s use of fiction as part of her anthropological research as modes of creative resistance that are used by women writers to create their own archives and push at the boundaries of the state-sanctioned record. The conclusion connects the modernist response to innovation and our contemporary moment as we respond to AI, ever increasing urban development, and the disasters caused by irresponsible innovative expansion.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest/Clarivate.

Notes

Embargoed until 2028-04-07

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Available for download on Friday, April 07, 2028

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