Forty Miler, A Novel: Representations of difference in historical fiction

Abstract

Set in 1937, Forty Miler is a queer historical novel that opens in Charleston, South Carolina. The protagonist is seventeen-year-old artist Hazel Spurlock, whose life of predictable and stifling routine is upended when she accepts a banner painting position with a travelling circus. Falling within the bildungsroman tradition—specifically, its artist novel (künstlerroman) subgenre—the plot traces the protagonist’s growth to maturation along creative, familial, and intimate trajectories.
After the novel, the thesis presents a critical commentary titled “Representations of Difference in Historical Fiction”. The essay considers fiction’s capacity to imaginatively recuperate stories neglected by or omitted from the historical record. The analysis primarily focuses on depictions of queer identity and physical difference/disability within Forty Miler, noting where the novel sits within broader literary contexts and discussing how the work emulates or departs from notable elements of identified traditions. Key topics include the legacy of queer suffering in LGBTQ+ fiction; models of disability and difference as discussed in critical literature and reflected in novels; and strategies used to write against, subvert, or complicate limiting tropes in fiction.

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