The Passing Figure: Racial Confusion in Modern American LiteraturePeter Lang, 1996 - 142 pages How and when does literature most effectively uncover race to be a mataphor? The passing figure, a light-skinned African-American capable and willing to pass for white, provides the thematic focus to this provocative study. In exploring the social and cultural history of this distinctly American phenomenon, Bennett moves freely between literature, film, and music, arguing that the passing figure is crucial to our understanding of past and present conceptions of race. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 46
Page 5
... Negro " blood makes a person a " Negro . " The problems in explaining this rule , not unlike the problems in explaining " passing , " relates to the inherent problems in our racialist and racist systems of thought . This study of the ...
... Negro " blood makes a person a " Negro . " The problems in explaining this rule , not unlike the problems in explaining " passing , " relates to the inherent problems in our racialist and racist systems of thought . This study of the ...
Page 29
... Negro . " Byron Bunch , providing reflections we might often expect from narrators , sees Joe Christmas's name as ... Negro ! Negro ! Negro ! " Both erase his individuality as the larger narrative must do in order to transform him into ...
... Negro . " Byron Bunch , providing reflections we might often expect from narrators , sees Joe Christmas's name as ... Negro ! Negro ! Negro ! " Both erase his individuality as the larger narrative must do in order to transform him into ...
Page 38
... Negro , but Du Bois is careful to distinguish this inner - war from that experienced by the light - skinned mulatto . The " merging " of American and Negro , which is dangerously close to a merging , or miscegenation , between white and ...
... Negro , but Du Bois is careful to distinguish this inner - war from that experienced by the light - skinned mulatto . The " merging " of American and Negro , which is dangerously close to a merging , or miscegenation , between white and ...
Contents
An Introduction to Passing | 1 |
Theme to Genre | 35 |
How White People Pass | 61 |
Copyright | |
3 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
The Passing Figure: Racial Confusion in Modern American Literature Juda Bennett No preview available - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
African-American American argues associated attention authors become beginning black and white body Bois Brown Butterfly called century chapter characters color concerned construction continue Craft created critics culture dark defined definition despite earlier early escape event examine explore familiar Faulkner fiction gender genre Harlem idea identity importance interest introduced Irene jazz Joe Christmas Julie larger Larson's less Light in August literature live look meaning metaphor minstrelsy movie mulatto narrator Negro never nigger nomenclature novel offers passing figure passing narratives past performance perhaps person play plot present problem provides question race racial racist reader recent refer Renaissance replaces representations representative requires satire scene seems sexuality Show Boat significant simply singing slave songs specifically story struggle success suggest tell theme thought tradition University Press writing written York