Where is the Hospitality of it All? A Writer’s Treatment of Her Own Life

Abstract

The following paper examines the aspect of control in a non-fiction writer’s life. Is the ability to write in the non-fiction genre one of the greatest forms of control over one’s own life? How are southern writers like Dorothy Allison, Janisse Ray, Carson McCullers, Alice Walker, and Flannery O’Connor controlling the reader’s experience in their work? The three techniques that the paper investigates as a means of control over narratives both fictional and non-fictional are voice, hospitality, and structure. Voice is the distinct flow of the story and can change as needed to disrupt the narrative. Hospitality is the term used for reader accessibility in this paper and can open the narrative up to readers who might not be familiar with aspects of the piece such as setting, culture, language, or history. Structure is a tool that controls how information is being given to the reader. Using structure allows the author to control pace, emphasis, and suspense. Great southern writers maintaining complete control over their narratives while refusing to let the southern narrative be controlled by white supremacy and erasing histories.