Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner

Lecture Details

Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner (AMST 246)Professor Wai Chee Dimock focuses on the unresolved problem of race in Light in August, focusing her discussion on the variety of reflexive and calculated uses of the word "nigger" as a charged term toward Joe Christmas. She shows how the semantic burden of the word varies -- used under duress by Joe Brown and the dietician, deliberately made light of by Hightower and Bobbie, fused with the contrary meanings of Calvinist theology by Joanna Burden, and finally ironized by Joe Christmas himself. Dimock uses these multiple uses of the word "nigger" to meditate on the making of racial identities and our collective input into that process. Warning This lecture contains graphic content andor adult language that some viewers may find disturbing0000 - Chapter 1. The Unresolved Problem of Race in Light in August0701 - Chapter 2. Joe Browns Involuntary Use of the Word "Nigger"0945 - Chapter 3. The Dietitians Involuntary Use of the Word "Nigger"1401 - Chapter 4. The Dieticians Instrumental Usage of the Word "Nigger"1654 - Chapter 5. Hightowers Agonized Usage of the Word "Nigger"1937 - Chapter 6. The Doubleness of Hightower as Metaphor2131 - Chapter 7. Bobbies Trivial Usage of the Word "Nigger" 2357 - Chapter 8. Bobbies Involuntary Use of the World "Nigger"2658 - Chapter 9. Joanna Burdens Emotional Response to the World "Nigger" as an Eternal Curse3447 - Chapter 10. The Burdens Calvinist Genealogy3938 - Chapter 11. Joanna Burdens Licentious Use of the Word "Negro"4703 - Chapter 12. Joe Christmass Ironic Use of the Word "Nigger"Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website httpoyc.yale.eduThis course was recorded in Fall 2011.