Research Catalog
Peculiar Whiteness : racial anxiety and poor Whites in Southern literature, 1900-1965
- Title
- Peculiar Whiteness : racial anxiety and poor Whites in Southern literature, 1900-1965 / Justin Mellette.
- Author
- Mellette, Justin
- Publication
- Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2021]
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | JFE 21-2835 | Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 |
Details
- Description
- xii, 198 pages; 24 cm
- Summary
- "Peculiar Whiteness: Racial Anxiety and Poor Whites in Southern Literature, 1900-1965 argues for deeper consideration of the complexities surrounding the disparate treatment of poor whites throughout southern literature and attests to how broad such experiences have been. While the history of prejudice against this group is not the same as the legacy of violence perpetrated against people of color in America, individuals regarded as "white trash" have suffered a dehumanizing process in the writings of various white authors. Poor white characters are frequently maligned as grotesque and anxiety inducing, especially when they are aligned in close proximity to blacks or to people with disabilities. Thus, as a symbol, much has been asked of poor whites, and various iterations of the label (e.g., "white trash," tenant farmers, or even people with a little less money than average) have been subject to a broad spectrum of judgment, pity, compassion, fear, and anxiety. Peculiar Whiteness engages key issues in contemporary critical race studies, whiteness studies, and southern studies, both literary and historical. Through discussions of authors including Charles Chesnutt, Thomas Dixon, Sutton Griggs, Erskine Caldwell, Lillian Smith, William Faulkner, and Flannery O'Connor, we see how whites in a position of power work to maintain their status, often by finding ways to recategorize and marginalize people who might not otherwise have seemed to fall under the auspices or boundaries of "white trash.""--
- Subjects
- Genre/Form
- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-192) and index.
- Contents
- Introduction -- Tom and friends: Thomas Dixon, white supremacy, and poor whites of the Lost Cause -- "It ain't hardly worth the trouble to go on living": the reaction to abject poverty in Erskine Caldwell -- "Crashing to bits": autobiographical recreations of the South -- "It aint nothing but jest another Snopes": boundaries of whiteness in Yoknapatawpha -- Maimed souls: O'Connor, disability, and the future of white trash.
- Call Number
- JFE 21-2835
- ISBN
- 9781496832535
- 1496832531
- 9781496832542
- 149683254X
- LCCN
- 2020051351
- 40030445034
- OCLC
- 1224517174
- Author
- Mellette, Justin, author.
- Title
- Peculiar Whiteness : racial anxiety and poor Whites in Southern literature, 1900-1965 / Justin Mellette.
- Publisher
- Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2021]
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-192) and index.
- Chronological Term
- 1900-1999
- Other Form:
- Online version: Mellette, Justin, Peculiar whiteness Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2021. 9781496832559 (DLC) 2020051352
- Other Standard Identifier
- 40030445034
- Research Call Number
- JFE 21-2835