{"id":52650,"date":"2017-03-19T20:14:07","date_gmt":"2017-03-19T20:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=52650"},"modified":"2017-03-19T20:14:07","modified_gmt":"2017-03-19T20:14:07","slug":"the-shadow-of-lynching-in-nella-larsens-passing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=52650","title":{"rendered":"The Shadow of Lynching in Nella Larsen\u2019s Passing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Shadow of Lynching in Nella Larsen\u2019s <\/strong><\/em>Passing<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Women’s Studies: An inter-disciplinary journal<\/a>
\nPublished online: 2017-02-22
\npages 1-22
\nDOI: 10.1080\/00497878.2017.1285767<\/a><\/p>\n

Kangyl Ko<\/strong><\/a>
\nYonsei University, Seoul, South Korea<\/em><\/p>\n

Since Deborah E. McDowell\u2019s<\/a> groundbreaking essay on the representation of black female sexuality in Nella Larsen\u2019s<\/a> Passing<\/em><\/a> (1929), many scholars have discussed how the intersectionality of race, class, gender, and sexuality unfolds throughout the novel. In her compelling reading of Passing<\/em>, McDowell examines the hidden lesbian narratives beneath \u201cthe safe and familiar plot of racial passing<\/a>\u201d on which previous scholars have focused (xxx). McDowell\u2019s excavation of the tale of sexual passing within the tale of racial passing has since inspired many scholars to further examine the novel\u2019s exploration of black female sexuality, especially in terms of lesbian desire, and its appropriation and negotiation of the literary convention of the tragic mulatto<\/a>\u2014\u201cthe safe and familiar plot of racial passing,\u201d as McDowell refers to it. The continuous trend in scholarship of Passing<\/em>, whether it focuses on lesbian desire and\/or the appropriation of the tragic mulatto narrative, links discussions of black female sexuality directly with racialized popular discourses about black female bodies in Jim Crow<\/a> America. As a result, one of Larsen\u2019s rhetorical and thematic threads that runs through her second novel has remained underexplored: lynching<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Following Grace Elizabeth Hale\u2019s<\/a> formulation of lynching as \u201ccultural form\u201d that \u201cexisted as both physical practice and as written and photographic representations\u201d (360), I read Passing<\/em> as a discursive platform where Larsen explores and challenges not only the dominant white lynching narrative, but also its counter-lynching narrative created by black male writers. As an iconic \u201ccultural form\u201d of Jim Crow America, lynching played a crucial role in defining and shaping interracial relations in the United States. Within criticism, lynching as a form of physical violence and a discourse has been addressed largely in terms of the black male body alone. However, black women were victims of lynching as well. They were \u201croutinely lynched, burned, and summarily mutilated\u201d (Wiegman 84)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Shadow of Lynching in Nella Larsen\u2019s Passing Women’s Studies: An inter-disciplinary journal Published online: 2017-02-22 pages 1-22 DOI: 10.1080\/00497878.2017.1285767 Kangyl Ko Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea Since Deborah E. McDowell\u2019s groundbreaking essay on the representation of black female sexuality in Nella Larsen\u2019s Passing (1929), many scholars have discussed how the intersectionality of race, class, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1196,8,20],"tags":[26549,26550,87,6674,10524],"class_list":["post-52650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-literary-criticism","category-media-archive","category-usa","tag-kangyl-ko","tag-lynching","tag-nella-larsen","tag-womens-studies","tag-womens-studies-an-inter-disciplinary-journal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52650"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52651,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52650\/revisions\/52651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}