Gallego , Mar. 2003. Passing Novels in the Harlem Renaissance: Identity Politics and Textual Strategies . Universidad de Huelva: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Huelva.

This book offers a systematic and in-depth analysis of the unique and significant   contribution of "passing" novels to the literary and intellectual debate of the Harlem Renaissance, especially to the search for a suitable definition of a concept of African American identity which could become a valid alternative to that imposed by the dominant ideology counteracting centuries of derogatory stereotypes. Such an analysis clearly reveals the presence of a highly subversive component in these novels, turning them into useful tools to explore the "passing" phenomenon in all its richness and complexity.

Concretely, the selected corpus proposes a comparative paradigm based on the male standpoint--James Weldon Johnson's Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and George Schuyler's Black No More --and the female view--Nella Larsen's Quicksand and Passing and Jessie Fauset's Plum Bun. This twofold model accounts for the multiplicity and hybridity inherent in these novels where notions of race, identity and gender are constantly deconstructed and reconstructed. Besides, the variety of textual strategies intentionally deployed by the chosen authors highlights the "passing" nature of the texts themselves that take on a sort of protective cover drawing from other genres or modes such as autobiography, satire, romance, fairy tale, science fiction, the sentimental novel, etc., in order to convey their unconventional critique of Western ideology and worldview, and to widen the conception of passing to include not only racial, but also cultural, social, class and even sexual passing.

The present study therefore intends to contribute to the ongoing revision of the parameters conventionally employed to analyze "passing" novels by drawing attention to the enormous significance this subgenre entails for the establishment of a coherent and more inclusive African American literary canon.

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