Category: charles chesnutt

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What keeps us from acting?

Lillian Smith wrote Now is the Time (1955) in reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Smith saw the decision as every child’s Magna Carta, and in Now is the Time, she laid out that in order to move forward, we must act. The book, in essence, as Rose Gladney and Lisa Hodgens put it, “crystallized approximately two decades … Read More What keeps us from acting?

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The Paradox of Writing to Get the “Bigots”

If you enjoy what you read here at Interminable Rambling, think about making a contribution on our Patreon page.  Over the past few posts, I have been discussing how authors such as Frank Yerby, Claude McKay, and Zora Neale Hurston counter western ideals of beauty, specifically ideals of white beauty. Over the next couple of posts, I want to move back a little and … Read More The Paradox of Writing to Get the “Bigots”

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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

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

If you enjoy what you read here at Interminable Rambling, think about making a contribution on our Patreon page.  Charles Chesnutt’s Paul Marchand, F.M.C. highlights the legal fictions constructing race in America and the absolute absurdity of such constructions. Today, I want to look at some of the ways that Chesnutt illuminates the construction of race through legal fictions in the novel. Chesnutt explores … Read More Charles Chesnutt’s “Paul Marchand” and the Social Construction of Race: Part I

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Confronting the Reader in Feldstein and Wood’s “The Guilty!”

Last Thursday, I wrote about the ways that Al Feldstein and Wallace Wood countered racism in their story “Hate!” which appeared in EC Comics’ Shock SuspenStories #5. Over the next couple of posts, I want to take a look at three more stories by the duo: “Guilty!,” “Under Cover,” and “The Whipping!” I do not have enough space to thoroughly delve into each story; … Read More Confronting the Reader in Feldstein and Wood’s “The Guilty!”