Racism, Misogyny, and the Othello Myth: Inter-Racial Couples from Shakespeare to Spike Lee

ISBN-13: 9780521848787 / Angielski / Twarda / 2005 / 268 str.

Celia R. Daileader

Opis

Through research spanning four centuries, in genres as diverse as English Renaissance drama, abolitionist literature, gothic horror and contemporary romance, Celia Daileader questions why Anglo-American culture's most widely-read canonical narratives of inter-racial sex feature a black male and a white female. This study considers the cultural obsession with Shakespeare's Othello, alongside the more pertinent issue of white male sexual predation upon black females. Daileader argues that myths about black male sexual rapacity and the danger of racial "pollution" were exploited to "protect" white female sexuality and exorcise collective guilt.

Recenzje

'This exploration by Celia R. Daileader of the interrelatedness of racism and sexism is insightful, relevant and clearly written.' New Theatre Quarterly

Spis treści

Introduction: Othellophilia; 1. White devils, black lust: inter-racialism in early modern drama; 2. The heathen with the heart of gold: Othellophilia comes to America; 3. Holes at the poles: gothic horror and the racial abject; 4. Sisters in bondage: abolition, amalgamation, and the crisis of female authorship; 5. Handsome devils: romance, rape, racism, and the rhet(t)oric of darkness; 6. Invisible men, unspeakable acts: the spectacle of black male violence in modern American fiction; Conclusion: 'White women are snaky': jungle fever and its discontents.