Category: Literature
“What if . . .?”: Questions About Education
The other day, Beth Loveland emailed me with her thoughts after she read Ashley McCall’s “What If We Radically Reimagined The New School Year?” As I read McCall’s article, I kept thinking about Lillian Smith and her comments to Mr. Hartley about education. McCall asks us, among a myriad of important questions, “What if we recognized that life—our day-to-day circumstances and our response to … Read More “What if . . .?”: Questions About Education
Ethnic American Literature Syllabus
Every semester, I post my syllabi here. This fall semester the class may look a little different, but the main goals remain. I’m teaching an ethnic American literature class this fall, and the texts that I have chosen to teach this semester come, as usual, from partly my own desire to expand my own knowledge and understanding of different ethnicities, nationalities, and cultures. As … Read More Ethnic American Literature Syllabus
+ african american literature, alice walker, american literature, dorie miller, ernest j gaines, Literature, southern literature, the autobiography of miss jane pittman, the third life of grange copeland
History and Education in Alice Walker’s “The Third Life of Grange Copeland”
Today, I’m going to finish the discussion I began last week on history and the ways that we construct meaning. In the last post, I looked at Ernest J. Gaines’ The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971). For this post, I will focus on one more scene from Gaines’ novel then move on to look at a section from Alice Walker’s The Third Life … Read More History and Education in Alice Walker’s “The Third Life of Grange Copeland”
+ african american literature, alice walker, american literature, ernest j gaines, julius lester, Literature, look out whitey!, louisiana literature, peter burke, southern literature, the autobiography of miss jane pittman, twentieth century literature, varieties of cultural history
“Miss Jane is not in them”: Voices in Historical Narratives
Over the past couple of posts, I have written about the role of history and literature in countering prevailing myths about the past and the present. Today, I want to continue that discussion by looking at a couple of scene from Ernest J. Gaines’ The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971). On Thursday, I will finish this series by looking at a section from … Read More “Miss Jane is not in them”: Voices in Historical Narratives
+ american literature, blues for mister charlie, huck finn, interracial intimacy, interracial marriage, lillian e smith, Literature, of love and dust
Dirt in Lillian E. Smith’s “Strange Fruit”
Lillian E. Smith’s Strange Fruit (1944) has been on my shelf for a few years now. Right now, it sits back in the United States, untouched and locked away in a box in a storage room. When I purchased it, at a book sale, it was one of those books that I had heard about and that looked relevant to my research. I bought … Read More Dirt in Lillian E. Smith’s “Strange Fruit”
+ african american literature, american literature, Americans Want to Believe Jobs are the Solution to Poverty. They're Not, caribbean literature, drown, Junot Díaz, Literature, matthew desmond, yunior
Education and Poverty in Junot Díaz’s “Drown”
Reading Junot Díaz’s “Drown,” my mind constantly kept going back to texts such as Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and James Baldwin who said, “Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.” Along with these items, I also thought about the power structures that keep Yunior de Las Casas in subjugation and essentially strip … Read More Education and Poverty in Junot Díaz’s “Drown”
+ african american literature, american dream, american literature, big walter younger, lena younger, liesl tommy, Literature, lorraine hansberry, ruth younger, walter lee younger
Big Walter in Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun”
Throughout Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, one character hovers over the entire play as a specter of the past. This character is Big Walter, Lena’s husband and Benetha and Walter Lee’s father. Even though he does not appear on stage in the script, he exists as an important part of the narrative. His death, which we do not see, causes the action … Read More Big Walter in Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun”
+ american literature, charlotte perkins gilman, gothic literature, Literature, nineteenth century literature, republican motherhood, the housewife, The Yellow Wall-Paper
Republican Motherhood and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper”
A few items stuck out as I prepared to teach Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper” this semester. The first aspect of the short story that caught my attention was the multiple uses of specific words or forms of specific words: creep (20), sun (8), crawl (4), and skulk (1). Each of these words, except for sun, has a connotation of hiding or concealment. … Read More Republican Motherhood and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper”
+ african american literature, american literature, Genarao Kỳ Lý Smith, Genaro Kỳ Lý Smith, Literature, louisiana literature, perfect in parts, the beautiful ones are not yet born, ul press, Vietnam
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”
+ african american literature, american literature, American Studies Association of Norway, asanor, caribbean literature, claude mckay, early american literature, Laestadianism, langston hughes, Literature, louise bennett, norway, richard wright, southern literature, Tadeusz Kościuszko
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
+ african american literature, american literature, charles chesnutt, Literature, new orleans, paul marchand, southern literature
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
+ african american literature, american literature, charles chesnutt, Literature, louisiana literature, new orleans, paul marchand, southern literature
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
