Thesis (Th. M.)--Reformed Theological Seminary, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 175-186).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Reformed Theological Seminary, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-148).

Thesis--Paris. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 739-778).

The American South is a rich source of literature that combines the humorous and the horrific in its attempts to explain and expose the region's deep-seated social turmoil. One of the most prolific genres to come out of the South is southern gothic literature that, though not always humorous is known for its use of grotesque imagery and reliance on highly charged melodramatic narratives. When these works are comic, they don't merely reflect the region's strife but attempt to transform it. This dissertation looks at how southern gothic writers Beth Henley, Fannie Flagg and Flannery O'Connor use dark comedy in their works as defiant acts designed to question the status quo and reform the southern landscape by creating ruptures where marginalized people can assert themselves into the norms of American culture. Drawing on several different definitions of comedy, including Barecca's works on female narratives and linguistic theories of jokes, this work defines dark comedy and identifies where humor and horror come together in the works of these southern gothic writers to form particularly dark comic moments. Then, it uses Butler's theory of sites of rupture to explain how dark comedy can be transformative. In Giving an Account of Oneself, Butler explains Foucault's regime of truth as a system that is always both self-reflexive and social - a system where the norms that govern recognition create boundaries where subjects are formed. She goes on to conclude that ruptures can occur within the "horizon of normativity" whereby those relegated to the margins can gain entry and be encompassed within the governing norms. Dark comedy, then, occurs at or even creates that site of rupture in the individual and in the society that experiences it, and allows for the individual, and by extension society, to change its understanding of what is normal and resides within the margins. Within the text, then, dark comedy changes the governing norms to include the once marginalized oddities.

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A cathedral of the Church of England is the seat of the bishop and a centre of worship and mission. The history of this institution is followed from the English Reformation, which it survived, through to the Commonwealth, which it did not. Restored on the return of the monarchy, it then survived with little further trouble until the nineteenth century, when a lot of its income was diverted to the provision of churches and ministers for the populous urban and industrialised areas, which the Church could not fund in any other way. It was the subject of investigation by two Royal Commissions in the nineteenth century and three church-inspired commissions in the twentieth. These commissions stressed the links that should exist between cathedral, bishop and diocese, which the nineteenth century diocesan revival also encouraged, and suggested changes in instruments of governance to achieve this. Some proposals came to nothing, but others were brought into law. Unlike the Roman Catholic cathedral, the Anglican one never lost its autonomy. The religious situation in Britain today is considered in the light of some contemporary sociology and psychology, and it is recognised that the continued decline in the fortunes of the Church is tied up with the massive subjective turn which characterises contemporary culture. The cathedral has not shared the mistrust which faces the Church, and its various roles are discussed in the light of its continued hold on public affection. The conclusions reached are that, although the cathedral now has strong links with bishop and diocese, it should retain its independence within relationships of interdependence with them, to enable it to harness the popularity which it enjoys to remain a centre of worship, but primarily to concentrate on being a centre of mission. Appropriate ways of achieving that are discussed.