Passing in the Works of Charles W. Chesnutt

An exploration of a great American writer's abiding concern with the color lineEssays by Margaret D. Bauer Keith Byerman Martha J. Cutter SallyAnn H. Ferguson Donald B. Gibson Scott Thomas Gibson Aaron RitzenbergWerner Sollors and Susan Prothro WrightPassing in the Works of Charles W. Chesnutt is a collection that reevaluates Chesnutt's deft manipulation of the passing theme to expand understanding of the author's fiction and nonfiction. Nine contributors apply a variety of theories--including intertextual signifying/discourse analysis narratological formal psychoanalytical new historical reader response and performative frameworks--to add richness to readings of Chesnutt's works. Together the essays provide convincing evidence that passing is an intricate essential part of Chesnutt's writing and that it appears in all the genres he wielded: journal entries speeches essays and short and long fiction.The essays engage with each other to display the continuum in Chesnutt's thinking as he began his writing career and established his sense of social activism as evidenced in his early journal entries. Collectively the essays follow Chesnutt's works as he proceeded through the Jim Crow era honing his ability to manipulate his mostly white audience through the astute though apparently self-effacing narrator Uncle Julius of his popular conjure tales. Chesnutt's ability to subvert audience expectations is equally noticeable in the subtle irony of his short stories. Several of the collection's essays address Chesnutt's novels including Paul Marchand F.M.C. Mandy Oxendine The House Behind the Cedars and Evelyn's Husband. The volume opens up new paths of inquiry into a major African American writer's oeuvre.