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
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Page 18
... characters with colorful adjectives and , perhaps because of his Jamaican background , he labored to describe the most subtle variations . More expressionistically , Carl Van Vechten , with little or no subtlety , gave colorful names to ...
... characters with colorful adjectives and , perhaps because of his Jamaican background , he labored to describe the most subtle variations . More expressionistically , Carl Van Vechten , with little or no subtlety , gave colorful names to ...
Page 25
... characters who are caught in between or in conflict with themselves or their communities . Still , Schuyler's satire manages to ask the crucial question implicit in all " passing " dramas . Irene nearly asks it directly , but her ...
... characters who are caught in between or in conflict with themselves or their communities . Still , Schuyler's satire manages to ask the crucial question implicit in all " passing " dramas . Irene nearly asks it directly , but her ...
Page 84
... characters . In many ways , these characters cannot escape the destiny of race , or to use Althusser's terminology , they are interpellated as subjects , hardly free to escape the shaping force of culture . Perhaps this is why Infants ...
... characters . In many ways , these characters cannot escape the destiny of race , or to use Althusser's terminology , they are interpellated as subjects , hardly free to escape the shaping force of culture . Perhaps this is why Infants ...
Contents
An Introduction to Passing | 1 |
Theme to Genre | 35 |
How White People Pass | 61 |
Copyright | |
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Other editions - View all
The Passing Figure: Racial Confusion in Modern American Literature Juda Bennett No preview available - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
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