Category: african american literature

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Claude McKay’s “Banana Bottom” and William Blake

If you enjoy what you read here at Interminable Rambling, think about making a contribution on our Patreon page.  In the last post, I wrote some about how Frank Yerby and Claude McKay each challenge western ideals of beauty. Today, I want to continue that discussion by looking at how Bita Plant interrogates these ideals in Banana Bottom, specifically when she looks at William … Read More Claude McKay’s “Banana Bottom” and William Blake

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Countering White Ideals of Beauty in Claude McKay’s “Banana Bottom”

If you enjoy what you read here at Interminable Rambling, think about making a contribution on our Patreon page.  In many ways, I cannot help but think about Charles Chesnutt’s Paul Marchand, F.M.C. and Frank Yerby’s Speak Now when reading Claude McKay’s Banana Bottom. Specifically, I think about the experiment that the Craigs conduct on Bita Plant in relation to Pierre Beaurepas’ unexplained “experiment” … Read More Countering White Ideals of Beauty in Claude McKay’s “Banana Bottom”

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Internalized Ideas of Beauty in Genaro Kỳ Lý Smith’s “Perfect in Parts”

If you enjoy what you read here at Interminable Rambling, think about making a contribution on our Patreon page.  Recently, I had the chance to read Genaro Kỳ Lý Smith’s new collection of short stories, The Beautiful Ones are Not Yet Born (UL Press 2018). One story that immediately caught my attention was “Perfect in Parts,” a piece that, like Claude McKay’s Banana Bottom and Frank … Read More Internalized Ideas of Beauty in Genaro Kỳ Lý Smith’s “Perfect in Parts”

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Things I Learned at ASANOR 2018

If you enjoy what you read here at Interminable Rambling, think about making a contribution on our Patreon page.  This past week, I attended the American Studies Association of Norway (ASANOR) conference on the past and future of cosmopolitanism in Kristiansand, Norway. While there, I learned a lot, as hopefully usual for conferences. Today, I want to take the time to briefly write about … Read More Things I Learned at ASANOR 2018

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Charles Chesnutt’s “Paul Marchand” and the Social Construction of Race: Part II

If you enjoy what you read here at Interminable Rambling, think about making a contribution on our Patreon page.  In the last post, I spoke some about the “legal fictions” that Charles Chesnutt highlights in Paul Marchand, F.M.C., specifically with the relationship between Paul and Julie and with the terms that the narrator deploys throughout the novel. Today, I want to continue this discussion … Read More Charles Chesnutt’s “Paul Marchand” and the Social Construction of Race: Part II