Passing in the Works of Charles W. Chesnutt (Margaret Walker Alexander Series in African American Studies) PDF
Preview Passing in the Works of Charles W. Chesnutt (Margaret Walker Alexander Series in African American Studies)
Passing in the Works of CHARLES W. CHESNUTT This page intentionally left blank Passing in the Works of CHARLES W. CHESNUTT Edited by Susan Prothro Wright and Ernestine Pickens Glass university press of mississippi jackson Margaret Walker Alexander Series in African American Studies www.upress.state.ms.us TheUniversity Press of Mississippi is a member of the Association of American University Presses. Copyright © 2010 by University Press of Mississippi All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America First printing 2010 ∞ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Passing in the works of Charles W. Chesnutt / edited by Susan Prothro Wright and Ernestine Pickens Glass. p. cm. — (Margaret Walker Alexander series in African American studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-1-60473-416-4 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Chesnutt, Charles W. (Charles Waddell), 1858–1932—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Passing (Identity)— Fiction. I. Wright, Susan Prothro. II. Glass, Ernestine Pickens. PS1292.C6Z8 2010 813’.4—dc22 2009020701 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available To the memory of James Francis and Harriet Maxine Wright For my husband, William Glass This page intentionally left blank Contents ix Preface xiii Acknowledgments 3 Charles W. Chesnutt’s Historical Imagination Werner Sollors 9 Signifying the Other Chesnutt’s “Methods of Teaching” SallyAnn H. Ferguson 23 On Flags and Fraternities Lessons in History in Charles Chesnutt’s “Po’ Sandy” Margaret D. Bauer 39 Passing as Narrative and Textual Strategy in Charles Chesnutt’s “The Passing of Grandison” Martha J. Cutter 51 The Dream of History Memory and the Unconscious in Charles Chesnutt’s The House behind the Cedars Aaron Ritzenberg 67 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 84 Performing Race Mixed-Race Characters in the Novels of Charles Chesnutt Keith Byerman viii Contents 93 A Question of Passing or a Question of Conscience Toward Resolving the Ending of Mandy Oxendine Donald B. Gibson 110 “They Were All Colored to the Life” Historicizing “Whiteness” inEvelyn’s Husband Scott Thomas Gibson 127 Contributors 130 Index Preface Charles Chesnutt’s writing is informed by a uniquely historical perspective, one that is often mistaken for what it is not—a subordination of “all things” African American to all things white. On the other hand, Chesnutt’s imaginative histo- ricizing is frequently dismissed as superficial when readers fail to recognize what it is—an often ironic or even harshly satiric attack on notions of white superior- ity balanced by an objective rendering of the human qualities, good and bad, of whites and all hues of African Americans. In sum, the richness of Chesnutt’s writing requires a variety of critical approaches, and the essays in the collection rise to the challenge by looking at his works through a number of perspectives— intertextual, signifying/discourse analysis, narratological, formal, psychoanalyti- cal, new historical, reader response, and performative, for example—all of which serve to recover the significance of Chesnutt’s works in their on-going historical and literary contexts. The essays in this collection, grown out of special sessions on Chesnutt at Modern Language Association, American Literature Association, and College Language Association conferences, are included both because of their original approaches to Chesnutt’s work and because of their illuminating intersection with each other, an exchange that serves to expand the understand- ing of Chesnutt’s ideologies, his artistry, and his place in social and literary his- tory while uncovering new paths of inquiry into Chesnutt scholarship. In relation to the collection more specifically, the essays set out to illustrate Chesnutt’s genius in transforming historical reality from an African American perspective into his writing without destroying his relationship with a white read- ership, both his target audience and the source of his livelihood. Related to the imaginative rendering of history in Chesnutt’s works is the recurring theme of “passing,” along with its various implications for American society. This concern provides the thread that ties together the essays in this collection. Performance in Chesnutt’s fiction—whites passing for black, blacks passing for white, aristocrats posing as genteel, illiterate but astute slaves and former slaves posturing as igno- rant and dependent in order to achieve autonomy, and, in general, appearance functioning as reality—produced a palatable “realism” for white readers. Indeed, as the essays in the collection will show, performance is part and parcel of all of the genres utilized by Chesnutt, including journal entries, speeches, and essays, as well as his short and long fiction. ix
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