{"id":58194,"date":"2019-05-27T22:02:57","date_gmt":"2019-05-27T22:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=58194"},"modified":"2019-05-27T22:02:57","modified_gmt":"2019-05-27T22:02:57","slug":"reviewed-work-passing-interest-racial-passing-in-us-novels-memoirs-television-and-film-1990-2010-by-nerad-julie-cary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=58194","title":{"rendered":"Reviewed Work: Passing Interest: Racial Passing in US Novels, Memoirs, Television, and Film, 1990\u20132010 by Nerad, Julie Cary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed Work: Passing Interest: <\/strong><\/em>Racial Passing in US Novels, Memoirs, Television, and Film, 1990\u20132010<\/strong> by Nerad, Julie Cary<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

CLA Journal<\/a>
\nVolume 61, Number 3 (March 2018)<\/a>
\npages 250-253
\nDOI: 10.34042\/claj.61.3.0250<\/a><\/p>\n

Sharon L. Jones<\/strong><\/a>, Professor of English
\nWright State University, Dayton, Ohio<\/em><\/p>\n

Nerad, Julie Cary. Passing Interest: Racial Passing in Novels, Memoirs, Television, and Film, 1990-2010<\/em><\/a>. Albany: SUNY Press, 2014. 360pp. ISBN: 9781438452272. $95.00. Hardcover.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Passing Interest. Racial Passing in US Novels, Memoirs, Television, and Film, 1990-2010<\/em><\/a> provides relevant, meaningful information because of its scope and range. Julie Cary Nerad<\/a>, the editor and the other contributors, should be praised for the book, which features innovative contributions offering new and useful analysis of literature and film from varying critical perspectives. Overall, it serves an important purpose in advancing knowledge, discussion, and debates about different genres and centuries. Ultimately, Passing Interest: Racial Passing in US<\/i> Novels, Memoirs, Television, and Film, 1990-2010<\/i> promotes a reconsideration of how numerous factors influence literature and popular culture.<\/p>\n

In \u201cPreface: The \u2018Posts\u2019 of Passing,\u201d Gayle Wald<\/a> assesses the book in an enlightening and thoughtful manner by drawing upon personal and academic contexts (vii-x). Wald states, \u201cIn particular, this book expands upon a rich body of scholarship on passing by exploring recent literary and visual texts produced in an era often referred to as \u2018post-racial,\u2019 and by bringing a host of new voices to the scholarly con-versation\u201d (vii). Wald astutely acknowledges the scholarly writings of other authors, and some examples include the following: Barbara Christian, Houston Baker, Valerie Smith, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., as well as Werner Sollors (viii). Wald also stresses, \u201cIn some ways, the essays in Passing Interest<\/em> are about the conditions of the possibility of post-ness<\/em> itself \u201c (ix). Wald\u2019s approach demonstrates the book\u2019s relevant position in helping potential readers to better understand contemporary and earlier times.<\/p>\n

As both editor and contributor, Julie Cary Nerad highlights her careful and meticulous approach to analyzing the book\u2019s topic. In \u201cIntroduction: the (Not So) New Face of America,\u2019\u2019 (chapter one) Nerad argues that \u201cln the United States<\/a>, race does<\/em> still matter. Indeed, the concept of race continues to be a fundamental element of identity in America\u201d (5). Nerad identifies several books that are noteworthy including Crossing the Line: Racial Passing in Twentieth-Century U.S. Literature and Culture<\/a>, Passing and the Fictions of Identity<\/a>, Passing: Identity and Interpretation in Sexuality, Race, and Religion<\/a><\/em>, as well as acknowledging additional scholarship (12). Nerad contends \u201cThese works generally read passing texts from early American literature up to the Civil Rights Era\u201d (12). Nerad\u2019s introductory essay then lays a foundation for the idea that Passing Interest: Racial Passing in US Novels, Memoirs, Television, and Film, 1990-2010<\/em> proves distinct from many other books because of its emphasis on analyzing more recent publications (12).<\/p>\n

The subsequent chapters offer useful insight or perspectives. For example, the second and third chapters concentrate on nonfiction and present illuminating commentary. In \u201cOn the Margins of a Movement: Passing in Three Contemporary…<\/p>\n

Read or purchase the article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Passing Interest. Racial Passing in US Novels, Memoirs, Television, and Film, 1990-2010” provides relevant, meaningful information because of its scope and range. Julie Cary Nerad, the editor and the other contributors, should be praised for the book, which features innovative contributions offering new and useful analysis of literature and film from varying critical perspectives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,5,8,6462,20],"tags":[29835,6832,29836,29837],"class_list":["post-58194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-book-reviews","category-media-archive","category-passing-2","category-usa","tag-cla-journal","tag-julie-cary-nerad","tag-sharon-l-jones","tag-sharon-lynette-jones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58194","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=58194"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58197,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58194\/revisions\/58197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}