Passing in the Works of Charles W. Chesnutt (Margaret Walker Alexander Series in African American Studies)

Passing in the Works of Charles W. Chesnutt is a collection that reevaluates Chesnutt's deft manipulation of the "passing" theme to expand understanding of the author's fiction and nonfiction. Nine contributors 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 essays 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 essays 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 essays 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 collection's essays 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. Charles W. Chesnutt's Historical Imagination / Werner Sollors -- Signifying The Other: Chesnutt's Methods Of Teaching / Sallyann H. Ferguson -- On Flags And Fraternities: Lessons In History In Charles Chesnutt's Po'sandy / Margaret D. Bauer -- Passing As Narrative And Textual Strategy In Charles Chesnutt's The Passing Of Grandison / Martha J. Cutter -- The Dream Of History: Memory And The Unconscious In Charles Chesnutt's The House Behind The Cedars / Aaron Ritzenberg -- 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 -- Performing Race: Mixed-race Characters In The Novels Of Charles Chesnutt / Keith Byerman -- A Question Of Passing Or A Question Of Conscience: Toward Resolving The Ending Of Mandy Oxendine / Donald B. Gibson -- They Were All Colored To The Life: Historicizing Whiteness In Evelyn's Husband / Scott Thomas Gibson. Edited By Susan Prothro Wright And Ernestine Pickens Glass. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 14 Charles W. Chesnutt’s Historical Imagination......Page 18 Signifying the Other: Chesnutt’s “Methods of Teaching”......Page 24 On Flags and Fraternities: Lessons in History in Charles Chesnutt’s “Po’ Sandy”......Page 38 Passing as Narrative and Textual Strategy in Charles Chesnutt’s “The Passing of Grandison”......Page 54 The Dream of History: Memory and the Unconscious in Charles Chesnutt’s The House behind the Cedars......Page 66 In the Wake of D. W. Griffith’s: The Birth of a Nation Chesnutt’s Paul Marchand, F.M.C. as Command Performance......Page 82 Performing Race: Mixed-Race Characters in the Novels of Charles Chesnutt......Page 99 A Question of Passing or a Question of Conscience: Toward Resolving the Ending of Mandy Oxendine......Page 108 "They Were All Colored to the Life”: Historicizing “Whiteness” in Evelyn’s Husband......Page 125 Contributors......Page 142 E......Page 145 P......Page 146 W......Page 147 Reevaluates Charles Chesnutt's deft manipulation of the "passing" theme to expand understanding of the author's fiction and nonfiction. Nine contributors apply a variety of theories to add richness to readings of Chesnutt's works. Together the essays provide convincing evidence that "passing" is an intricate, essential part of Chesnutt's writing, and that it appears in all the genres he wielded.