The Passing Figure: Racial Confusion in Modern American Literature

Bennett (minority literature and gay and lesbian studies, U. of Minnesota-Minneapolis) examines three interrelated themes: blacks passing as whites in narratives from antebellum works to the Harlem Renaissance; the parodies of minstrelsy and other forms of racial impersonation or mimicry through music, speech, and even plot; and the contemporary obsession with gender passing, particularly as it relates to issues of race and racial passing. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR