Sites unseen : architecture, race, and American literature / William A. Gleason.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gleason, William A., 1961-

Series:

America and the long 19th century

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American literature--19th century--History and criticism.

American literature.

Architecture in literature.

Race in literature.

Architecture and literature.

American literature--20th century--History and criticism.

Physical Description:

xiii, 271 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press, [2011]

Summary:

Having initially approached the question through curiosity about the ubiquity of porches in the writings of African American author Charles Chesnutt, Gleason (English, Princeton U.) explores how ideas about race and architecture intersect in 19th and early-20th century American literature. He examines how the dialect tale, the novel of empire, letters, and pulp stories represented the plantation cabin, the West Indian cottage, the Latin American plaza, and the "Oriental" parlor, interrogating the ways in which the built environment is always (explicitly or implicitly) shaped by race. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Contents:

Introduction: Race, writing, architecture: American patterns

Cottage desire: The bondwoman's narrative and the politics of antebellum space

Piazza tales: Architecture, race, and memory in Charles Chesnutt's conjure stories

Imperial bungalow: structures of empire in Richard Harding Davis and Olga Beatriz Torres

Keyless rooms: Frank Lloyd Wright and Charlie Chan

Coda: Black cabin, white house.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780814732465

0814732461

9780814732472

081473247X

9780814732489

0814732488

OCLC:

697261041