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. |
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Page 46
... novel . Germane to our purposes here , Webb's novel is significant for being " the first [ novel ] to make ' passing for white ' a major theme " ( quoted from Jackson 344 ) . Although Webb's novel precedes the Craft narrative , it is ...
... novel . Germane to our purposes here , Webb's novel is significant for being " the first [ novel ] to make ' passing for white ' a major theme " ( quoted from Jackson 344 ) . Although Webb's novel precedes the Craft narrative , it is ...
Page 71
... novel focuses neither on Magnolia nor Julie as much as the evocation of setting . " Show Boat tells the story of the South , " she wrote in her first autobiography . But this novel is initially set on that river which runs North to ...
... novel focuses neither on Magnolia nor Julie as much as the evocation of setting . " Show Boat tells the story of the South , " she wrote in her first autobiography . But this novel is initially set on that river which runs North to ...
Page 82
... novel , we might begin , as does the novel , by introducing Stephen . New to Harlem and new to the sight of blackness , Stephen is the representative foreigner , coming to Niggerati Manor from Canada and from the privilege of whiteness ...
... novel , we might begin , as does the novel , by introducing Stephen . New to Harlem and new to the sight of blackness , Stephen is the representative foreigner , coming to Niggerati Manor from Canada and from the privilege of whiteness ...
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
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