Description
Book SynopsisFrom his first novel, The Intuitionist, in 1999, Colson Whitehead has produced fiction that brilliantly blurs genre and cultural lines to demonstrate the universal angst and integral bonds shared by all Americans. By neglecting to mention a character's racial heritage, Whitehead challenges the cultural assumptions of his readers. His African American protagonists are well educated and upwardly mobile and thus lack some of the social angst that is imposed by racial stratification. Despite the critical acclaim and literary awards Whitehead has received, there have been few in-depth examinations of his work.In Colson Whitehead: The Postracial Voice of Contemporary Literature, Kimberly Fain explores the work of this literary trailblazer, discussing how his novels reconstruct the American identity to be inclusive rather than exclusive and thus broaden the scope of who is considered an American. Whitehead attempts this feat by including African Americans among the class of people who may ach
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Part I: The Intuitionist Chapter 1 Verticality: Allegorical Symbols of Racial and National Uplift Chapter 2 Lila Mae the Invisible Woman of The Intuitionist Chapter 3 Piercing the Veil: Passing, Colorblindness, and Postracialism Chapter 4 The American Spirit: John Henry’s Legendary and Epic Stature Amongst Folk Heroes Such as Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan Chapter 5 Heroism and Masculinity in the Industrial Age and the Digital Age Chapter 6 Commercial Enslavement and Liberation in the Industrial Age versus the Digital Age Chapter 7 Apex: The Metaphorical Bandage That Masks but Never Heals Part II: The Colossus of New York Chapter 8 New York: A Postracial Dream Realized or an American Dream Deferred Chapter 9 The Colossus of New York: A Tribute to Gothic Urban Spaces Chapter 10 Subways, Rush Hour, and Downtown: New Yorkers Lead Quiet Lives of Desperation Part III: Sag Harbor & Zone One Chapter 11 Social and Philosophical Divide: The Intersection of Class and Race for an Adolescent and Adult Colson Whitehead Chapter 12 Wright and Whitehead: Black Hunger in the South and Black Faces in the Hamptons Chapter 13 Colson Whitehead’s Zone One: Post-apocalyptic Zombies Takeover Manhattan in the Age of Nostalgia, Despair and Consumption Conclusion Bibliography Index About the Author
