Clever title needed
Here's the abstract I want to submit to the Southern Women Writers conference--but, I'd like to have a clever title to put with a colon before the descriptive title. Any ideas?
Lee Smith’s Use of Fairies in On Agate Hill as a Connection to the Global South
As part of the heterogeneous South, Appalachia’s existence as both a part of as well as separate from the American South gives it a sense of what Allen Batteau has called a “double otherness.” The diversity of Southern Appalachia, particularly the cultural and mystical diversity of the region, provides an ideal landscape from which the magical can emerge. Lee Smith takes particular advantage of this foundation for the ineffable in her novel On Agate Hill, in which many manifestations of the magical appear. This paper looks specifically at Smith’s use of fairies in her novel as such an appearance. While fairy lore can be connected directly to Celtic traditions in Southern Appalachia, Lee’s portrayal of them as genuinely real in her novel links these fairies to a tradition of magical realism, which signifies not only the hybrid, marginalized nature of Appalachia, but also connects it to a larger tradition of magical realism in many “Souths.” This paper, then, will ultimately examine how Smith’s use of magical realism, specifically through her portrayal of fairies as existent characters in On Agate Hill, connects Appalachian literature with a larger tradition of magical realism in the global South.
Lee Smith’s Use of Fairies in On Agate Hill as a Connection to the Global South
As part of the heterogeneous South, Appalachia’s existence as both a part of as well as separate from the American South gives it a sense of what Allen Batteau has called a “double otherness.” The diversity of Southern Appalachia, particularly the cultural and mystical diversity of the region, provides an ideal landscape from which the magical can emerge. Lee Smith takes particular advantage of this foundation for the ineffable in her novel On Agate Hill, in which many manifestations of the magical appear. This paper looks specifically at Smith’s use of fairies in her novel as such an appearance. While fairy lore can be connected directly to Celtic traditions in Southern Appalachia, Lee’s portrayal of them as genuinely real in her novel links these fairies to a tradition of magical realism, which signifies not only the hybrid, marginalized nature of Appalachia, but also connects it to a larger tradition of magical realism in many “Souths.” This paper, then, will ultimately examine how Smith’s use of magical realism, specifically through her portrayal of fairies as existent characters in On Agate Hill, connects Appalachian literature with a larger tradition of magical realism in the global South.