To be suddenly white : literary realism and racial passing

Resource Information

The work To be suddenly white : literary realism and racial passing represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri-St. Louis Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

The Resource To be suddenly white : literary realism and racial passing

Label: To be suddenly white : literary realism and racial passing

Title remainder: literary realism and racial passing

Statement of responsibility: Steven J. Belluscio

Creator

Belluscio, Steven J

Contributor

University of Missouri Press

Subject

Genre

Language: eng

Summary

"Explores the challenges of subjective passing narratives written during the height of literary realism. Discusses racial and ethnic differences, assimilation, passing, and identity by comparing African-American narratives of James Johnson, Nella Larson, and George Schuyler and "white" ethnic (Jewish-American and Italian-American) narratives by Mary Antin, Anzia Yezierska, and Guido d'Agostino"--Provided by publisher
"To Be Suddenly White explores the troubled relationship between literary passing and literary realism, the dominant aesthetic motivation behind the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century ethnic texts considered in this study. Steven J. Belluscio uses the passing narrative to provide insight into how the representation of ethnic and racial subjectivity served, in part, to counter dominant narratives of difference. To Be Suddenly White offers new readings of traditional passing narratives from the African American literary tradition, such as James Weldon Johnson{u2019}s The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man, Nella Larsen{u2019}s Passing, and George Schuyler{u2019}s Black No More. It is also the first full-length work to consider a number of Jewish American and Italian American prose texts, such as Mary Antin{u2019}s The Promised Land, Anzia Yezierska{u2019}s Bread Givers, and Guido d{u2019}Agostino{u2019}s Olives on the Apple Tree, as racial passing narratives in their own right. Belluscio also demonstrates the contradictions that result from the passing narrative{u2019}s exploration of racial subjectivity, racial difference, and race itself. When they are seen in comparison, ideological differences begin to emerge between African American passing narratives and 2white ethnic3 (Jewish American and Italian American) passing narratives. According to Belluscio, the former are more likely to engage in a direct critique of ideas of race, while the latter have a tendency to become more simplistic acculturation narratives in which a character moves from a position of ethnic difference to one of full American identity. The desire 2to be suddenly white3 serves as a continual point of reference for Belluscio, enabling him to analyze how writers, even when overtly aware of the problematic nature of race (especially African American writers), are also aware of the conditions it creates, the transformations it provokes, and the consequences of both. Byexamining the content and context of these works, Belluscio elucidates their engagement with discourses of racial and ethnic differences, assimilation, passing, and identity, an approach that has profound implications for the understanding of American literary history."--Publishers website

Cataloging source: DLC

Dewey number: 810.9/3552

Government publication: government publication of a state province territory dependency etc

Index: index present

LC call number: PS338.N4

LC item number: B45 2006

Literary form: non fiction

Nature of contents: bibliography

Context

Context of To be suddenly white : literary realism and racial passing

Context

Work of