Exorcising Blackness
Historical and Literary Lynching and Burning Rituals
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19946333 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Trudier Harris (corresponding author), Trudier Harris-Lopez |
| Year | 1984 |
| Pages | 222 |
| Publication date | 1984-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | BOOK |
| Venue | Exorcising blackness (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Indiana University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2979/589.0 |
| OpenAlex | W4409447109 |
| ISBN | 9780253319951 |
| Open Library | OL3187982M |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
By lynching, burning, castrating, raping, and mutilating black people, contends Trudier Harris, white Americans were perfomring a rite of exorcism designed to eradicate the "black beast" from their midst, or, at the very least, to render him powerless and emasculated. Black writers have graphically portrayed such tragic incidents in their writings. In doing so, they seem to be acting out a communal role-a perpetuation of an oral tradition bent on the survival of the race. Exorcising Blackness demonstrates that the closeness and intensity of black people's historical experiences sometimes overshadows, frequently infuses and enhances, and definitely makes richer in texture the art of black writers. By reviewing the historical and literary interconnections of the rituals of exorcism, Harris opens up the hidden psyche-the soul-of black American writers
Art · History · Race, History, and American Society · African American authors · African American men in literature · African americans · African americans in literature · American fiction · Castration in literature · crimes against · History and criticism · Intellectual life · Lynching · Lynching in literature · Race relations in literature · united states · Violence in literature
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2014 - 2018 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |