Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-237) and index.
Contents:
Reading race and character -- Superman of America vs. Ameen Rihani : the hyperproduction of character -- José Garcia Villa's book of grotesques : character and compulsion -- Many parts of Pocho : the discontinuous characters of José Antonio Villarreal -- Building American character : Dalip Singh Saund's model of minority -- Paule Marshall's Brown girls : structures of character -- The old constellation.
Summary:
"A vexed figure inhabits U.S. literature and culture: the visibly racialized immigrant who disavows minority identity and embraces the American dream. Such figures are potent and controversial for they promise to atone for racial violence and perpetuate an exceptionalist ideal of America. In this book, Swati Rana builds on studies of character and racial form and offers a new way to view characterization through racialization that creates, through literary analysis, a fuller social reading of race"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.