Blackness and value : seeing double / Lindon Barrett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barrett, Lindon, 1961-2008, author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in American literature and culture ; 117.

Cambridge studies in American literature and culture ; 117

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Petry, Ann, 1908-1997--Political and social views.

Petry, Ann.

American literature--African American authors--History and criticism--Theory, etc.

American literature.

Literature and society--United States--History--20th century.

Literature and society.

African Americans--Intellectual life--20th century.

African Americans.

Violence--Social aspects--United States.

Violence.

Race--Social aspects--United States.

Race.

African Americans in literature.

Social values--United States.

Social values.

Violence in literature.

Racism--United States.

Racism.

Race in literature.

Duality (Logic).

United States--Race relations.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 272 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

Blackness & Value

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Blackness and Value investigates the principles by which 'value' operates, and asks if it is useful to imagine that the concepts of racial blackness and whiteness in the United States operate in terms of these principles. Testing these concepts by exploring various theoretical approaches and their shortcomings, Lindon Barrett finds that the gulf between 'the street' (where race is acknowledged as a powerful enigma) and the literary academy (where until recently it has not been) can be understood as a symptom of racial violence. The book traces several interrelations between value and race, such as literate/illiterate, the signing/singing voice, time/space, civic/criminal, and academy/street, and offers relevant and fresh readings of two novels by Ann Petry. While approaches to race and value are commonly examined historically or sociologically, this intriguing study provides a new critical approach that speaks to theorists of race as well as gender and queer studies.

Contents:

Introduction

Part I. Violence and the unsightly: Figures of violence

Figuring others of value

(Further) figures of violence

Part II. Reasonings and reasonableness: De-marking limits

Part III. Phonic and scopic economies: Signs of others

Signs of the visible.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-267) and index.

ISBN:

0-511-58511-X

0-511-00345-5