Charles May, The Yellow Bird, Tennessee Williams, short story, modernism, symbolism
The modernist movement has its origins in the growing industrialization of the late nineteenth century, which profoundly transformed traditional ways of life and the individual's relationship to society. This period was marked by a questioning of artistic values and conventions, reflecting a crisis in the authority of institutions. Throughout Europe, particularly in France, Germany and Great Britain, the art scene experienced a period of intense innovative creativity, illustrating the fundamental principles of modernism (ibid).
Modernism was a period when writers sought to create new ways of saying, new ways of creating. During this period of research into formalism, authors began to invent a new literary style, that of the short story, such as Tenessee William and his "Yellow Bird". The "Yellow Bird" is a short story that first appeared in Town and Country magazine in 1947 and was later included in the collection One Arm and Other Stories (1948), published by New Directions.
In this article we seek to capture the message that Charles May was trying to convey in his thoughts on short stories, claiming that they rely "more on skill and demonstrate greater control on the part of the author than novels" (May, 1994, xxvi). So we will ask ourselves the following question: How does the short story "The Yellow Bird" by Tennessee Williams illustrate the concepts advanced by Charles May on the know-how and control of the author evoked by Charles May in his conception of the modern short story?
[...] The author makes the link between Alma and the first of her ancestors: « Goody Tutwiler was cried out against by the Circle Girls, a group of hysterical young ladies of Salem who were thrown into fits whenever a witch came near them. They claimed that Goody Tutwiler [ . ] had appeared to them with a yellow bird which she called by the name of Bobo and which served as interlocutor between herself and the devil to whom she was sworn. The Reverend Tutwiler was so impressed by these accusations [ . ] that he himself finally cried out against her ». [...]
[...] A new vision of women In Yellow Bird, Tenessee William allows us to explore a new vision of women, giving us a critical approach to the status of women and to relations between men and women. For example, while Alma's mother worries about what will happen to her daughter after she leaves, it is ultimately a family friend who visits Alma and questions her about her lifestyle: « "How do you live?" asked the woman. "What?" said Alma, innocently. mean how do you get along?" said Alma, "people give me things." "You mean you accept gifts from them?" "Yes, on a give-and-take basis," Alma told her. [...]
[...] Then, the caracter Bobo called « l'oiseau jaune » shows the reader the echo of this word, which resonates in several languages, just like this story, which, although far-fetched, is universal in its approach, as we shall see in the last sub-section of our article. A metafictionnal story Verdanakis explore in her article why this is a metafictionnal story. Indeed, Tennessee Williams' "The Yellow Bird" acts as an echo of the author's own life. Although Williams does not explicitly narrate his life in order to leave a trace or a testimony, he uses the reality of his lived experience as a source. [...]
[...] The Yellow Bird - Tennessee Williams (1947) - The modernist short story, the figure of the writer The concept of modernism is complex, as it has two different meanings: in its historical dimension, it covers an intellectual and artistic movement that developed in Europe and America from the beginning of the twentieth century until the end of the 1930s (Amfreville and al p. 167). The modernist movement has its origins in the growing industrialization of the late nineteenth century, which profoundly transformed traditional ways of life and the individual's relationship to society. [...]
[...] In The Yellow Bird, Alma rebelled against her preacher father at an early age and decided to move to New Orleans. We follow her tribulations from Salem, through Hobbs, Arkansas and on to New Orleans, Louisiana. In her new life, she gradually moved away from her social origins and became a prostitute. In the course of the story, she became the mother of a son whom she named John, after her favorite client. Then, after living in poverty, she becomes rich. [...]
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