{"id":55427,"date":"2017-12-22T19:54:34","date_gmt":"2017-12-22T19:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=55427"},"modified":"2017-12-22T20:07:18","modified_gmt":"2017-12-22T20:07:18","slug":"posthistorical-fiction-and-postracial-passing-in-james-mcbrides-the-good-lord-bird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=55427","title":{"rendered":"Posthistorical fiction and postracial passing in James McBride\u2019s The Good Lord Bird"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1080\/00111619.2017.1381068\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em><strong>Posthistorical fiction and postracial passing in James McBride\u2019s <\/strong><\/em><strong>The Good Lord Bird<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/toc\/vcrt20\/current\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction<\/a><br \/>\nPublished online: 2017-12-15<br \/>\n9 pages<br \/>\nDOI: <a href=\"https:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1080\/00111619.2017.1381068\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10.1080\/00111619.2017.1381068<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/kw.linkedin.com\/in\/gerald-david-naughton-4a6b7326\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Gerald David Naughton<\/strong><\/a>, Associate Professor of American Literature<br \/>\n<em>Gulf University for Science &amp; Technology (GUST), Kuwait<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This article examines <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jamesmcbride.com\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">James McBride\u2019s<\/a> National Book Award\u2013winning novel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/312301\/the-good-lord-bird-by-james-mcbride\/9781594632785\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The Good Lord Bird<\/em><\/a> (2013) as an example of both posthistorical fiction and postracial passing. These twin ambiguities, the article argues, structure McBride\u2019s neo-<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Slave_narrative\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">slave narrative<\/a>, pointing toward the inherent ironies of racial, gender, and historical construction, both in the era of the novel\u2019s historical setting (the 1850s) and in the age of the novel\u2019s critical reception (the twenty-first century). Ultimately, the essay suggests, McBride\u2019s novel plays within these ironies, rather than attempting to unravel them. Identity and history in the text exist only as models of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Performativity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">performativity<\/a>, and constructs of essence or authenticity are eschewed.<\/p>\n<p>Read or purchase the article <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1080\/00111619.2017.1381068?journalCode=vcrt20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article examines James McBride\u2019s National Book Award\u2013winning novel The Good Lord Bird (2013) as an example of both posthistorical fiction and postracial passing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1196,8,6462,6940,20],"tags":[27871,27870,364],"class_list":["post-55427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-literary-criticism","category-media-archive","category-passing-2","category-slavery","category-usa","tag-critique-studies-in-contemporary-fiction","tag-gerald-david-naughton","tag-james-mcbride"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55427","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=55427"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55431,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55427\/revisions\/55431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}