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 29
... suggest that the " sound " ( or the sign ) does more than name and more than predict the future , it defines and ... suggests the importance of names . Later , all suspicions will be confirmed , or might we say fulfilled . The name that ...
... suggest that the " sound " ( or the sign ) does more than name and more than predict the future , it defines and ... suggests the importance of names . Later , all suspicions will be confirmed , or might we say fulfilled . The name that ...
Page 46
... suggests there were very real costs to passing . Many novels , some as early as Frank Webb's The Garies and Their Friends ( 1857 ) , suggest that the subject and question of passing was well - debated . This chapter is specifi- cally ...
... suggests there were very real costs to passing . Many novels , some as early as Frank Webb's The Garies and Their Friends ( 1857 ) , suggest that the subject and question of passing was well - debated . This chapter is specifi- cally ...
Page 102
... suggests an " arrogant and baleful " quality . His face also provokes the foreman to suggest they run him through the planer to " take that look off his face " ( 28 ) . It is the surface 102 The Passing Figure.
... suggests an " arrogant and baleful " quality . His face also provokes the foreman to suggest they run him through the planer to " take that look off his face " ( 28 ) . It is the surface 102 The Passing Figure.
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