THE EMBODIED ODDITY: EMPOWERING TESTIMONIES OF DISABLED SOUTHERN WOMEN WRITERS

The purpose of this project is to establish the connections between southern women writers, autotheory, and grotesque descriptions of disability in Gothic Literature as a significant subset of literature. Southern women writers transform their bodily experiences through the language of the grotesque in testimony to re-create a life that has been unmade by pain. Their autobiographical narratives serve as an expression for the inexpressible, affirm their experiences for themselves, and call upon others to join in witnessing their impact. The introduction uses prominent theories from various critical fields to establish a new theory, and the following chapters reflect on that theory from the lives and literature of three disabled southern women writers: Flannery O’Connor, Carson McCullers, and Zelda Fitzgerald. As demonstrated in these women’s lives and literature, in a society which others odd, obscure experiences, using the testimonial voice is necessary to the personal and social survival of disability. Writing offers the opportunity for disabled people to make a permanent impact by creating from the knowledge of personal suffering to impact the world and its perceptions surrounding life with disability.