Category: american literature

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+ abolitionist, african american literature, american literature, attica locke, louisiana literature, neh summer institute, slavery, southern literature, Uncategorized

My Trip to Whitney Plantation

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A couple of weeks ago, I finally had the opportunity to go to the Whitney Plantation in Wallace, LA. I have written about the Whitney before and some of its history; today, I want to focus on my experiences at the Whitney and how those experiences differed from what I encountered at other plantations and historical museums. Before I delve into this discussion, I … Read More My Trip to Whitney Plantation

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+ african american literature, american literature, ernest j gaines, louisiana literature, of love and dust, southern literature

What Does the Cover Say? (Part 2)

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Last post, I wrote briefly about three of the covers from Ernest J. Gaines’s Of Love and Dust (1967). Today, I want to continue the discussion by looking at the 1994 Vintage Books edition and two 1991 covers from French translations. Examined in relation to the covers discussed in the previous post, these images provide readers with three more introductions to OLAD before they … Read More What Does the Cover Say? (Part 2)

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+ african american literature, american literature, e.w. kemble, ernest j gaines, louisiana literature, of love and dust, paul laurence dunbar, southern literature, Uncategorized

What Does the Cover Say?

by Unknown's avatar

One topic that has always interested me is the visual representations of literary works. Visual artists from Gustave Dore and E.W. Kemble illustrated everything from Dante’s Divine Comedy (1320) to Paul Laurence Dunbar’s The Strength of Gideon and Other Stories (1900). Thinking about these visual representations along with the text provides an interesting conversation, not just regarding how the images and texts interact but how … Read More What Does the Cover Say?

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+ african american literature, american literature, ernest j gaines, louisiana literature, southern literature, Uncategorized, william faulkner, william melvin kelley

Constructing the “Past”

by Unknown's avatar

At the end of William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! (1936), Quentin and Shreve construct, without knowing the “true” events, the burning of the Sutpen house. Describing “the driver and the deputy” pulling Miss Colfield out of the inflamed house, the narrator states, “he (Quentin) could see her, them; he had not been there, but he could see her” (376). The construction of that scene conflates … Read More Constructing the “Past”

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+ a gathering of old men, african american literature, american literature, ernest j gaines, louisiana literature, southern literature, Uncategorized

Land in Ernest J. Gaines’s “A Gathering of Old Men”

by Unknown's avatar

Last post, I wrote about the appearance of the pronoun “they” in Ernest J. Gaines’s “The Sky is Gray.” In that story, “they” appears as a reference to ownership and power in the community that seeks to keep James and Octavia is subjugation so the invisible white landowners can maintain their position at the top of the social ladder. As James looks out of … Read More Land in Ernest J. Gaines’s “A Gathering of Old Men”

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