LEADER 04344nam 22007574 450 001 9910813430903321 005 20230405002703.0 010 $a0-8223-9695-5 024 7 $a10.1515/9780822396956 035 $a(CKB)2550000001341277 035 $a(OCoLC)891395258 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10904250 035 $a(SSID)ssj0001292613 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)12596974 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0001292613 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)11303589 035 $a(PQKB)10164848 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3007925 035 $a(OCoLC)1141661244 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse80169 035 $a885010622 035 $a(DE-B1597)552919 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780822396956 035 $a(EXLCZ)992550000001341277 100 $a20140731d1998 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcnu|||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aImpossible purities $eblackness, femininity, and Victorian culture /$fJennifer DeVere Brody 210 1$aDurham [N.C.] :$cDuke University Press,$d1998. 215 $a1 online resource (273 p.) 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 $a0-8223-2105-X 311 $a0-8223-2120-3 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (pages [221]-243) and index. 327 $aComplicating categories. --Miscegenating mulattaroons. --Casting the dye. --Masking faces. --Deforming island races. --Epilogue. 330 $aUsing Black feminist theory and African American studies to read Victorian culture, Impossible Purities looks at the construction of ?Englishness? as white, masculine, and pure and ?Americanness? as Black, feminine, and impure. Brody?s readings of Victorian novels, plays, paintings, and science fiction reveal the impossibility of purity and the inevitability of hybridity in representations of ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and race. She amasses a considerable amount of evidence to show that Victorian culture was bound inextricably to various forms and figures of Blackness. Opening with a reading of Daniel Defoe?s ?A True-Born Englishman,? which posits the mixed origins of English identity, Brody goes on to analyze mulattas typified by Rhoda Swartz in William Thackeray?s Vanity Fair, whose mixed-race status reveals the ?unseemly origins of English imperial power.? Examining Victorian stage productions from blackface minstrel shows to performances of The Octoroon and Uncle Tom?s Cabin, she explains how such productions depended upon feminized, ?Black? figures in order to reproduce Englishmen as masculine white subjects. She also discusses H.G. Wells?s The Island of Dr. Moreau in the context of debates about the ?new woman,? slavery, and fears of the monstrous degeneration of English gentleman. Impossible Purities concludes with a discussion of Bram Stoker?s novella, ?The Lair of the White Worm,? which brings together the book?s concerns with changing racial representations on both sides of the Atlantic. This book will be of interest to scholars in Victorian studies, literary theory, African American studies, and cultural criticism. 606 $aEnglish literature$y19th century$xHistory and criticism 606 $aBlack people$zGreat Britain$xPublic opinion$xHistory$y19th century 606 $aRace awareness$zGreat Britain$xHistory$y19th century 606 $aNational characteristics, English, in literature 606 $aWomen, Black, in literature 606 $aFemininity in literature 606 $aBlack people in literature 606 $aRace in literature 606 $aBlack race$xColor 607 $aGreat Britain$xCivilization$y19th century 615 0$aEnglish literature$xHistory and criticism. 615 0$aBlack people$xPublic opinion$xHistory 615 0$aRace awareness$xHistory 615 0$aNational characteristics, English, in literature. 615 0$aWomen, Black, in literature. 615 0$aFemininity in literature. 615 0$aBlack people in literature. 615 0$aRace in literature. 615 0$aBlack race$xColor. 676 $a820.9/358 700 $aBrody$b Jennifer DeVere$01682518 801 0$bNDD 801 1$bNDD 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910813430903321 996 $aImpossible purities$94052702 997 $aUNINA