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The White Negress: Literature, Minstrelsy, and the Black-Jewish Imaginary PDF

240 Pages·2011·1.654 MB·English
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The White Negress The White Negress Literature, Minstrelsy, and the Black-Jewish Imaginary lori harrison-kahan Rutgers University Press new brunswick, new jersey, and london Copyright © 2011 by Lori Harrison-Kahan. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University Press, 100 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854–8099. The only exception to this prohibition is “fair use” as defined by U.S. copyright law. Visit our Web site: http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu Manufactured in the United States of America library of congress cataloging-in-publication data Harrison-Kahan, Lori. The white negress : literature, minstrelsy, and the black-Jewish imaginary / Lori Harrison-Kahan. p. cm. — (American Literatures Initiative) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8135-4782-4 (alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8135-4783-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. American literature—20th century—History and criticism. 2. Passing (Identity) in literature. 3. Women and literature—United States—History—20th century. 4. Ethnicity in literature. 5. African American women authors. 6. Jewish women authors—United States. 7. Americanization. 8. Immigrants in literature. I. Title. PS228.P35H37 2010 810.9'3529—dc22 2010008515 A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the British Library. A book in the American Literatures Initiative (ALI), a collaborative publishing project of NYU Press, Fordham University Press, Rutgers University Press, Temple University Press, and the University of Virginia Press. The Initiative is supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. For more information, please visit www.americanliteratures.org. Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1 From White Negress to Yiddishe Mama: Sophie Tucker and the Female Blackface Tradition 16 2 The Same Show Boat? Edna Ferber’s Interracial Ideal 58 3 Limitations of White: Fannie Hurst and the Consumption of Blackness 96 4 Moses and Minstrelsy: Zora Neale Hurston and the Black-Jewish Imaginary 143 Conclusion 177 Notes 185 Index 221 Acknowledgments Over the course of writing this book, I have made my academic home at various institutions. I would like to thank colleagues and students in the History and Literature Program at Harvard University, the Department of American Studies at Brandeis University, the English Department at Connecticut College, the English Department at Boston College, and at the University of Pennsylvania for the intellectual exchange that helped to shape the content contained herein. In the early stages of my academic career, my professors at Princeton and Columbia—in particular, Michael Wood, Ann Douglas, David Eng, and Ann Pellegrini—provided inspira- tion and models of scholarship that have continued to fuel my writing and thinking. Other individuals deserve special mention for the impact they have had on my research along the way: Darren Gobert, Lydia Fisher, Cara Delay, Jessica Lang, Laura Saltz, Jennifer Sartori, Katie Kendall, Ra- chel Prentice, Chloe Silverman, and, for her longtime friendship and nonacademic perspective, Emily Burg. At Connecticut College, Lauren Moran and Monica Raymunt assisted with research. David Greven gave me a push when I most needed it. Ann Pellegrini and Laura Lev- itt helped me move further toward publication. In the final stages of this project, I was fortunate to benefit from the insights of Josh Lam- bert, who has been a wonderful collaborator. I would especially like to thank the members of my writing group, Kimberly Chabot Davis and Shilpa Davé, who read every word of the book (some several times viii / acknowledgments over) and whose feedback and collegiality have been invaluable to my scholarship. I owe thanks to Leslie Mitchner, Katie Keeran, and Marilyn Camp- bell at Rutgers University Press; to Rachel Friedman, who acquired the manuscript; and to Tim Roberts at the American Literatures Initiative. Once anonymous readers, Joyce Antler and Martha Cutter provided sage and challenging comments that led to drastic improvements; I am glad to have the opportunity to thank them by name. I want to express my appreciation of the American Literatures Initia- tive and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for their commitment to bringing the work of young scholars into print. A Dorot Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Jewish Studies from the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin, and a NEMLA Summer Fellowship helped me to conduct archival research. Finally, I am grateful for the love of my family, who readily admit that they have no idea what I do for work, but who support me uncondition- ally just the same. Barbara and Robert Harrison nurtured my thirst for knowledge from an early age. Jodi and Neil Harrison have always been there to share in the successes. Eileen Kahan provided babysitting, and nourishment, that allowed me to bring this book to completion. My hus- band, David, and sons, Cuyler and Amory, are daily reminders of the need to balance work and play. This book is for them. The White Negress

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