Passing in the Works of Charles W. Chesnutt
Passing in the Works of Charles W. Chesnutt
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Abstract
This is a book that reevaluates Charles W. Chesnutt’s deft manipulation of the “passing” theme to expand understanding of the author’s fiction and nonfiction. Nine chapters apply a variety of theories—including intertextual, signifying/discourse analysis, narratological, formal, psychoanalytical, new historical, reader response, and performative frameworks—to add richness to readings of Chesnutt’s works. Together the chapters provide convincing evidence that “passing” is an intricate, essential part of Chesnutt’s writing, and that it appears in all the genres he wielded: journal entries, speeches, essays, and short and long fiction. The chapters engage with each other to display the continuum in Chesnutt’s thinking as he began his writing career and established his sense of social activism, as evidenced in his early journal entries. Collectively, the chapters follow Chesnutt’s works as he proceeded through the Jim Crow era, honing his ability to manipulate his mostly white audience through the astute, though apparently self-effacing, narrator, Uncle Julius, of his popular conjure tales. Chesnutt’s ability to subvert audience expectations is equally noticeable in the subtle irony of his short stories. Several of the book’s chapters address Chesnutt’s novels, including Paul Marchand, F.M.C.; Mandy Oxendine; The House Behind the Cedars; and Evelyn’s Husband. The volume opens up new paths of inquiry into a major African American writer’s oeuvre.
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Front Matter
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Charles W. Chesnutt’s Historical Imagination
Werner Sollors
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Signifying the Other: Chesnutt’s “Methods of Teaching”
SallyAnn H. Ferguson
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On Flags and Fraternities: Lessons in History in Charles Chesnutt’s “Po’Sandy”
Margaret D. Bauer
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Passing as Narrative and Textual Strategy in Charles Chesnutt’s “The Passing of Grandison”
Martha J. Cutter
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The Dream of History: Memory and the Unconscious in Charles Chesnutt’s The House behind the Cedars
Aaron Ritzenberg
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In the Wake of D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation: Chesnutt’s Paul Marchand, F.M.C. as Command Performance
Susan Prothro Wright
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Performing Race: Mixed-Race Characters in the Novels of Charles Chesnutt
Keith Byerman
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A Question of Passing or a Question of Conscience: Toward Resolving the Ending of Mandy Oxendine
Donald B. Gibson
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“They Were All Colored to the Life”: Historicizing “Whiteness” in Evelyn’s Husband
Scott Thomas Gibson
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End Matter
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