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 26
... reader participation in its active disruption of our expectations of " race . " More than any single " passing " narrative , Schuyler's work presents a concentrated attack on old beliefs in " race . " All this from an author who had ...
... reader participation in its active disruption of our expectations of " race . " More than any single " passing " narrative , Schuyler's work presents a concentrated attack on old beliefs in " race . " All this from an author who had ...
Page 28
... reader a producer rather than a consumer of the narrative . In the absence of a strong and omniscient narrator , we ... readers of the novel who assumed that Joe Christmas was in fact black . These readers , Cleanth Brooks for one ...
... reader a producer rather than a consumer of the narrative . In the absence of a strong and omniscient narrator , we ... readers of the novel who assumed that Joe Christmas was in fact black . These readers , Cleanth Brooks for one ...
Page 40
... reader . The impersonal tale modulates into personal account , and we must adjust . " I saw Frank myself , " Craft tells us , " when he came for the little twins . Though I was then quite a lad , I well remember being highly delighted ...
... reader . The impersonal tale modulates into personal account , and we must adjust . " I saw Frank myself , " Craft tells us , " when he came for the little twins . Though I was then quite a lad , I well remember being highly delighted ...
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