To understand why Latino Border Patrol agents might have killed Pretti, the race passing novels of Faulkner, Roth, and Larsen are useful.
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Tag Archives: William Faulkner
Race Passing and Pretti’s Killers
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alex Pretti, Human Stain, Light in August, Nell Larsen, Passing, Philip Roth, race passing Comments closed
History That Refuses to Die
Until we face up to America’s dark history, it will be like the corpse in Poe’s “Premature Burial,” scratching to get out.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Premature Burial", American history, Beloved, Edgar Allan Poe, Light in August, return of the repressed, Toni Morrison Comments closed
We Need Disturbing Lit If We Are to Grow
If we want literature to improve our lives, often we must read–and teach–works that unsettle.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Bluest Eye, C.S. Lewis, cancel culture, Cat's Eye, censorship, Clansman, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx, Light in August, Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Lottery, Margaret Atwood, Ruth Franklin, Shirley Jackson, Thomas Dixon, Toni Morrison Comments closed
Pretending that Slavery Wasn’t a Big Deal
Unlike Faulkner, the Southern Agrarians claimed that African Americans weren’t an integral part of Southern culture.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alan Tate, Andrew Lytle, Ares, Civil War, John Crowe Ransom, Michael Gorra, racism, Southern Agrarians, Toni Morrison Comments closed
Faulkner Understood How Racism Works
Faulkner helps me understand my past growing up in the racist south. Sadly, he’s still relevant.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Absalom Absalom!, Light in August, Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, racism Comments closed
Faulkner: Racist in Life, Not in Fiction
In life, Faulkner was a racist. In his fiction, he deconstructed racism brilliantly.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Dry September, lynching, Michael Gorra, racism, Saddest Words, segregation Comments closed
Faulkner’s Sanctuary, Trump’s Charges
Reading Sanctuary while awaiting a Trump indictment is a good counterweight to facile optimism. In Faulkner’s world, the courts can’t save us.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Cormac McCarthy, Donald Trump, Flannery O'Connor, Justice, Sanctuary, Toni Morrison, Trump indictments Comments closed
Lit that Features the N-Word: What to Do
Now to teach White literature that employs the n-word? Balance with Black literature.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Absalom Absalom!, Beloved, Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, n-word, racism, Song of Solomon, To Kill a Mockingbird, Toni Morrison Comments closed
Faulkner on Racism: Sadly, Still Relevant
Faulkner’s “Absalom, Absalom!” understands White America’s race hatred in a deep way that is still revelant.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Absalom Absalom!, Diversity, gothic fiction, miscegenation, racism Comments closed