Big holy dog: The wolf in North American literature

Sean Kipling Robisch, Purdue University

Abstract

Big Holy Dog examines the full range of North American prose “wolf stories,” including children's literature; novels and short fiction; oral narratives of the Pawnee, Kwaikutl, Micmac, and several other tribes; essays; and biological reports. European influences on Euro-North American narratives, from Norse cosmogonic myths to medieval European legends, receive some attention. A large section is devoted to wolf biology and ethology as these studies have helped shape North American storytelling about the wolf. It applies its own structural model, the Überwolf, to the texts in question. The model is divided into the “Corporeal Wolf” (efforts to represent real wolves), and the “Ghost Wolf” (representations of imagined wolves). While the Corporeal Wolf indicates a writer's attempt at moral neutrality, the Ghost Wolf may be benevolent, malevolent, or some combination of the two. Hybridization, taxonomy, postcolonialism, and social constructionism, and especially ecological criticism, are all considered in the project. Close readings are given to works by Jack London and Cormac McCarthy. Appendices are devoted to wolf stories in the Arthurian cycle, the Mexican Wolf Reintroduction program, and ideas for an undergraduate course on wolves and wolf stories. The dissertation is partly designed to extend the work of such writers as Barry Lopez, whose Of Wolves and Men largely inspired its creation, and partly to aid those who are working to preserve the habitat and livelihood of Canis lupus against the incursions of the destructive reader.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Lamb, Purdue University.

Subject Area

American literature|Comparative literature|Environmental science|Folklore|Canadian literature

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