Gothic passages : racial ambiguity and the American gothic / Justin D. Edwards.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Edwards, Justin D., 1970-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Horror tales, American--History and criticism.

Horror tales, American.

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

American fiction.

Gothic revival (Literature)--United States.

Gothic revival (Literature).

Multiracial people in literature.

Passing (Identity) in literature.

Ambiguity in literature.

Race in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (181 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, c2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This groundbreaking study analyzes the development of American gothic literature alongside nineteenth-century discourses of passing and racial ambiguity.By bringing together these areas of analysis, Justin Edwards considers the following questions. How are the categories of "race" and the rhetoric of racial difference tied to the language of gothicism? What can these discursive ties tell us about a range of social boundaries-gender, sexuality, class, race, etc.-during the nineteenth century? What can the construction and destabilization of these social boundaries tell us

Contents:

Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Part One: Creating A Self in the Antebellum Gothic Narrative; 1. Hybrid Bodies and Gothic Narratives in Poe's Pym; 2. Gothic Travels in Melville's Benito Cereno; 3. Passing and Abjection in William and Ellen Craft's Runninga Thousand Miles for Freedom; PART TWO Exploring Identity in Postbellum Gothic Discourse; 4. The Epistemology of the Body; or, Gothic Secrets inFrances E. W. Harper's Iola Leroy; 5. Genetic Atavism and the Return of the Repressed inWilliam Dean Howells's An Imperative Duty

6. The Haunted House behind the Cedars: CharlesW. Chesnuttand the "White Negro"Epilogue: Twentieth-Century Gothicism andRacial Ambiguity; Notes; Works Cited; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [123]-139) and index.

ISBN:

9781587294204

1587294206

OCLC:

56109574