The hunting motif in the literature of the United States:1782-1992.

Abstract

The thesis analyses a representative but by no means complete selection of American hunting texts from 1782 to 1992. The first chapter gives an overview of the history of hunting and important contemporary and related literature. It looks at characters such as Daniel Boone and David Crockett, assesses the changes hunting underwent and mentions the recent developments, such as the rise of the horror thriller. The following twelve chapters analyse novels and short stories by twelve different authors. The main research results are: 1) The establishment of a tripartite structure. Hunting texts can be divided into political, pro-hunting and anti-hunting texts. Pro-hunting text tend to have a self-confident firstperson narrator. Anti-hunting texts tend to have a less confident third-person narrator. 2) The use of either an anthropocentric or a biocentric perspective. 3) The animal described in hunting stories is of exceptional size, danger, or beauty. One effect of this is an increased polarisation between hunter and hunted. 4) Several writers employ binary oppositions as a stylistic device, such as life versus death, bravery versus fear, or man versus animal. 5) The hunter is usually described as a lonely, ‘wifeless’ man, either without any relationship at all, or incapable of entering into a relationship. He has also an unusually high potential of aggression, an urge to kill. The diversity and versatility of the hunting motif as well as the large group of texts discovered, and listed in an appendix, demonstrates that hunting stories are an important part of American literature and culture.