In this article, I read Charles Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition (1901) against the background of realism to unravel the novel’s distinct critique of racial discourse. I argue that realism’s characteristic technique of appealing to the visible to establish the reality and realness of its fictions enables the novel to trace a similar operation in the discourse of race. My focus rests on the novel’s treatment of two pairs of characters that challenge the visual confidence of both realism and race, pairs that exemplify what Samira Kawash has called 'interracial twins:' sets of characters whose parties 'actually,' ostensibly belong to different 'races,' yet whom the text presents as strikingly similar in their appearance. In its characterization of and narratives surrounding these 'twins,' the novel exposes the techniques by which racial discourse naturalizes itself and unmasks race as a textual construct, generated by stories and documents that dangerously sustain a reality of their own. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

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In this article, I read Charles Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition (1901) against the background of realism to unravel the novel’s distinct critique of racial discourse. I argue that realism’s characteristic technique of appealing to the visible to establish the reality and realness of its fictions enables the novel to trace a similar operation in the discourse of race. My focus rests on the novel’s treatment of two pairs of characters that challenge the visual confidence of both realism and race, pairs that exemplify what Samira Kawash has called 'interracial twins:' sets of characters whose parties 'actually,' ostensibly belong to different 'races,' yet whom the text presents as strikingly similar in their appearance. In its characterization of and narratives surrounding these 'twins,' the novel exposes the techniques by which racial discourse naturalizes itself and unmasks race as a textual construct, generated by stories and documents that dangerously sustain a reality of their own. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

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American literature and verse advanced in dialectal writing during the late-nineteenth century. Charles Chesnutt’s “The Goophered Grapevine” (1887), “Po’ Sandy” (1888), and “Hot-Foot Hannibal” (1899); Joel Chandler Harris’ Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings (1881); Thomas Nelson Page’s “Marse Chan” (1884); and Mark Twain’s “Sociable Jimmy” (1874) and “A True Story, Repeated Word for Word as I Heard It” (1874) provided diverse dialect representations. Dialect expanded into poetry with James Whitcomb Riley’s “She ‘Displains’ It” (1888), “When the Frost is on the Punkin” (1882), and “My Philosofy” (1882) and Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “The Spellin’ Bee” (1895), “An Ante-Bellum Sermon” (1895), and “To the Eastern Shore” (1903). Dialect styles and how they conveyed political or social perspectives are assessed. Correspondence between late-nineteenth century literary figures as well as periodical reviews reveal attitudes toward the use of dialect. Reader responses to dialect based on their political or social interpretations are explored.

Colonization adversely impacts the psychological health of the colonized. To heal psychologically, economically, and culturally and break chains of colonization in a post-colonial society, the colonized must be grounded in understanding and embrace of their cultural and historical heritage. This embrace and remembrance of the ancestors will inspire and create a spiritual and mental revolution. Prominent literary works from 16th to 20th century, such as Charles Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition and "Dave’s Neckliss", William Shakespeare’s "The Tempest" and Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko, explore the psychological and cultural demise of people of African descent due to colonization and racial oppression. While these works give voice to spiritual leaders, ancestors, and bondaged individuals who strive to overcome and survive adverse circumstances Eurocentric society has imposed upon them, these texts also explore characters who kneel at the altar of White hegemony and embrace Whiteness as the Ark of God, even to the characters’ and their community’s safety and well-being. These I term Black Eurocentric Saviors, characters who sacrifice themselves and their community for safety and saving of Whites. Through application of French West Indian psychiatrist Frantz Fanon's theories of colonization which posits that imposed psychological domination of the colonized by Europeans cultivated the belief in White superiority and the subsequent desire for White approval and blessings by any means necessary, including worshipping Whiteness, betraying other persons of African descent, and/or willing to kill self or other Blacks for both the continued prosperity of White societies and gained prosperity for self. Chesnutt, Shakespeare, and Behn depict oppressed people who (un)consciously appear to embrace with open arms historical narratives and cultural traditions that relegate them to second-class citizens and are thus unable to nurture mythical origins and pride in their ancestral history and legacy. When they seek to conjure their African ancestors, they do so, not for their freedom or elevation, but for betterment of White society. Through the application of Fanon's theories on colonization to select literary works of Chesnutt, Shakespeare, and Behn's, this dissertation asserts that the diasporic African’s embrace of White superiority resulted and continues today in both real life and literature.

The Presence and Use of the Native American and African American Oral Trickster Traditions in Zitkala-Sa's Old Indian Legends and American Indian Stories and Charles Chesnutt's The Conjure Woman My dissertation examines early Native American and African American oral trickster tales and shows how the pioneering authors Zitkala-Sa (Lakota) and Charles W. Chesnutt (African American) drew on them to provide the basis for a written literature that critiqued the political and social oppression their peoples were experiencing. The dissertation comprises 5 chapters. Chapter 1 defines the meaning and role of the oral trickster figure in Native American and African American folklore. It also explains how my participation in the Native American and African American communities as a long-time storyteller and as a trained academic combine to allow me to discern the hidden messages contained in Native American and African American oral and written trickster literature. Chapter 2 pinpoints what is distinctive about the Native American oral tradition, provides examples of trickster tales, explains their meaning, purpose, and cultural grounding, and discusses the challenges of translating the oral tradition into print. The chapter also includes an analysis of Jane Schoolcraft's short story "Mishosha" (1827). Chapter 3 focuses on Zitkala-Sa's Old Indian Legends (1901) and American Indian Stories (1921). In the legends and stories, Zitkala-Sa is able to preserve much of the mystical, magical, supernatural, and mythical quality of the original oral trickster tradition. She also uses the oral trickster tradition to describe and critique her particular nineteenth-century situation, the larger historical, cultural, and political context of the Sioux Nation, and Native American oppression under the United States government. Chapter 4 examines the African American oral tradition, provides examples of African and African American trickster tales, and explains their meaning, purpose, and cultural grounding. The chapter ends with close readings of the trickster tale elements embedded in William Wells Brown's Clotel; or, The President's Daughter (1853), Harriett Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), and Martin R. Delany's Blake, or the Huts of America (serialized 1859 - 1862). Chapter 5 shows how Charles Chesnutt's The Conjure Woman rests upon African-derived oral trickster myths, legends, and folklore preserved in enslavement culture. Throughout the Conjure tales, Chesnutt uses the supernatural as a metaphor for enslaved people's resistance, survival skills and methods, and for leveling the ground upon which Blacks and Whites struggled within the confines of the enslavement and post-Reconstruction South. Native American and African American oral and written trickster tales give voice to their authors' concerns about the social and political quality of life for themselves and for members of their communities. My dissertation allows these voices a forum from which to "speak." / English

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T19:59:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Orison Marden Bandeira de Melo Junior.pdf: 822477 bytes, checksum: e35e8d22d9ae8fb3fb9c21cad662fdfc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-12-06 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The present research proposes a comparative study between O Mulato, by Aluísio Azevedo and The House Behind the Cedars, by Charles Chesnutt, aiming at verifying some evidence of race prejudice in the voice of the novels narrators. Due to that, I first tried to analyze some scientific theories which have defended the inferiority of the black race and their portrayal through various stereotypes found not only in the novels which constitute the corpus of this study, but also in some prior to them. Furthermore, I examined some concepts from Comparative Literature which guided not only the comparison between the two frontier novels but also the use of notions from Science, History and Religion. Thus, I verified that both narratives were analogous in various aspects, among which I mention: (1) small and prejudiced cities; (2) the chronological time of the plots determined by historical events; (3) thirdperson omniscient and intrusive narrators; (5) afro-descendent heroes portrayed with physical and cultural characteristics of white heroes; (6) the end of the heroes by death, and (7) interracial relationship as the intriguing element of racial discrimination portrayed in the novels. Among the individual characteristics of each book, I pointed out (1) the angle of vision in the narratives, since the world depicted in O Mulato is the world of white people whereas the world in The House Behind the Cedars is the world of black people, and (2) the consciousness of black ancestry, which is not found in the main character of the Brazilian novel and is always present in the main character of the American novel. Finally, I tried to answer the research question by concluding that I believe that there is a contradiction in the voice of the narrator, who, although telling a plot whose ideological function is to fight against race prejudice, corroborates the racist scientific theories by describing secondary characters in the narratives stereotypically and afro-descendent heroes with physical and cultural characteristics of white heroes / A presente pesquisa retrata a proposta de um estudo comparativista entre O Mulato, de Aluísio Azevedo e The House Behind the Cedars, de Charles Chesnutt, objetivando verificar algum indício de preconceito racial na voz do narrador dos romances. Diante disso, procurei, em primeiro lugar, analisar algumas teorias científicas que defendiam a inferioridade da raça negra e a sua representação na literatura através de vários estereótipos encontrados não só nas obras que se constituem o corpus deste trabalho, mas também em romances que os antecederam. Ademais, visitei alguns conceitos da literatura comparada que nortearam não só comparação entre esses dois romances de fronteira, como também a utilização de noções da ciência, da história e da religião. Verifiquei, assim, que as duas obras eram análogas em vários aspectos; entre eles, cito: (1) cidades pequenas e preconceituosas; (2) eventos históricos que determinavam o tempo cronológico das tramas; (3) narrador onisciente, em terceira pessoa e intruso; (4) narração com indícios de preconceito do narrador; (5) heróis afro-descendentes com características físicas e culturais de heróis brancos; (6) fim do herói pela morte e (7) relacionamento inter-racial como o elemento instigador do preconceito racial representado nos romances. Entre as características individuais de cada obra, apontei (1) o ângulo de visão de cada romance, já que o mundo representado em O Mulato é o mundo dos brancos, enquanto o de The House Behind the Cedars é o dos negros, e (2) a consciência da ascendência negra, ausente no protagonista da obra brasileira, mas sempre presente no da obra americana. Finalmente, procurei responder à pergunta de pesquisa, concluindo acreditar haver contradição na voz do narrador, que, apesar de narrar uma trama cuja função ideológica era combater o racismo, corrobora, na sua narrativa, as teorias científicas racistas, através da descrição estereotipada de personagens secundárias e da descrição dos heróis afro-descendentes com características físicas e culturais de heróis brancos

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