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 4
... requires explanation in a way that transvestism or cross - dressing does not . The medical profession with its desire to fix names and definitions — everything from the maternal figure to the kleptomaniac - has passed over the passing ...
... requires explanation in a way that transvestism or cross - dressing does not . The medical profession with its desire to fix names and definitions — everything from the maternal figure to the kleptomaniac - has passed over the passing ...
Page 26
... requires that we constantly discern " parody " from " reality , " which means readers must find something in life to give meaning ( and humor ) to Black No More's national craze for " passing " and the ease with which these ...
... requires that we constantly discern " parody " from " reality , " which means readers must find something in life to give meaning ( and humor ) to Black No More's national craze for " passing " and the ease with which these ...
Page 30
... requires a " nigger . " Doc Hines needs him to explain his Calvinistic world ; Joanne Burden wants him to give meaning to her liberalism ; and Joe Brown uses him to escape his own poverty . There are various people who require Joe ...
... requires a " nigger . " Doc Hines needs him to explain his Calvinistic world ; Joanne Burden wants him to give meaning to her liberalism ; and Joe Brown uses him to escape his own poverty . There are various people who require Joe ...
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 ambiguity American argues beginning black and white blackface Bois Bois's Brown Butterfly Carl Van Vechten chapter characters Christmas's Clare Clotel color line construction created Crying Game culture dark despite discourse Doc Hines dramatic Ellen escape explore fantasy Faulkner Ferber's fiction film Fitzgerald Frances Harper gender passing genre Glazer and Moynihan Harlem Renaissance highlight Home to Harlem Hwang identity Infants of Spring interest Irene Jazz Singer Joe Christmas Kol Nidre Light in August literature Magnolia mask McKay meaning metaphor Miles For Freedom minstrelsy movie narrator Negro nomenclature passing figure passing narratives perhaps play plot problem protagonist question race racial passing racialist racist Raymond reader representations Running a Thousand satire Schuyler sexuality Show Boat singing slave stereotypes story struggle suggest theme Thurman tragic mulatto University Press W. E. B. Du Bois white authors William Craft William Wells Brown writing York