Historical Representation of the American Southwest and Paradox in the Critique of Modernity in Death Comes for the Archbishop
By focusing on the spatial movements concerning the American Southwest within and outside the text of Death Comes for the Archbishop,this paper argues that Willa Cather's historical turn signaled by this novel is not an escape from reality,but rather an effort to contemplate the present by treating the past as an irony.The protagonist's deterritorializational missions embody Cather's reflection on materialism and aesthetic degradation caused by the pursuit of newness,the intrinsic attribute of modernity,in the early 20th century.However,the establishment of an American Catholic diocese indicates the protagonist's participation in and promotion of Westward Expansion in the 19th century.This process of reterritorialization reveals Cather's affirmation of the reproduction of modem space in the American Southwest,thereby implying irreconcilable contradictions in her critique of modernity.
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维普
