Dirty whites and dark secrets : sex and race in Peyton Place / Sally Hirsh-Dickinson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hirsh-Dickinson, Sally.

Series:

Revisiting New England

Revisiting New England: The new regionalism

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Metalious, Grace. Peyton Place.

Metalious, Grace.

Sex in literature.

Race in literature.

New England--In literature.

New England.

Physical Description:

xi, 221 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Durham, N.H. : University of New Hampshire Press, [2011]

Summary:

In a surprise rereading of the classic Peyton Place by Grace Metalious, Sally Hirsh-Dickinson contends that it scandalized the nation precisely because of the way in which sexuality in the novel is conflated with America's problematic relationship to race. This charge is buttressed by the oft-forgotten detail that the fictional Peyton Place was founded by one Samuel Peyton, an escaped slave.

Hirsh-Dickinson argues that the town's inability to come to terms with its black history informs its dysfunctional relationship to sex, power, and justice, mirroring America on the eve of the civil rights movement. She writes of New England in the larger American consciousness, touching on discussions of white studies and the racialized lower classes in American fiction. Dirty Whites and Dark Secrets is a thought-provoking study of a genre classic that will speak to both scholars and students about the deeper truths hidden in popular fiction. Book jacket.

Contents:

Dark past, white lies: reconsidering the sources of scandal in Peyton Place

The color of incest: sexual abuse, racial anxiety and the 1950s family in Peyton Place

Domestic disturbances: rape, race, and Peyton Place

The good rapist, the bad rapist, and the abortionist: Peyton Place's crisis of masculinity

Home is where the haunt is: domestic space, race and the uncanny.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781611680416

1611680417

9781611680423

1611680425

9781611682151

1611682150

OCLC:

712117817