Reconstructing Womanhood: The Emergence of the Afro-American Woman Novelist

232 Pages·1989·11.47 MB·English

by  Hazel V. Carby

Reconstructing
Womanhood
The Emergence of the
Afro-American Woman Novelist
HAZEL V. CARBY
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York Oxford
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York Toronto
Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi
Petaling Jaya Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo
Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town
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and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1987
First published in 1987 by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1989
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carby, Hazel V.
Reconstructing womanhood.
"Bibliography of texts by Black women authors" : p.
Bibliography: p.
1. American fiction—Afro-American authors—History and criticism.
2. American fiction—Women authors—History and criticism.
3. American fiction—19th century—History and criticism.
4. Afro-American women in literature.
5. Women and literature—United States.
6. Feminism and literature—United States.
I. Title.
PS153.N5C37 1987 813'.4'099287 87-11055
ISBN 0-19-504164-X
ISBN 0-19-506071-7 (pbk.)
98765
Printed in the United States of America
For my parents
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Acknowledgments
No intellectual endeavor is ever the work of one individual; I have
received a great deal of support, both financial and intellectual. I
would like to thank the Social Science Research Council of Great
Britain and the Afro-American Studies Program at Yale University,
for providing me with money for research, and Wesleyan University
for a sabbatical to complete the book. The library staff at Sterling
Memorial Library and Beinecke Library at Yale, at Olin Library at
Wesleyan, at the New York Public Library, at the Schomberg Cen-
ter for Research in Black Culture, and at the Moorland-Spingarn
Research Center provided me with invaluable assistance. For intel-
lectual support and encouragement I am grateful to John Blassin-
game, Nancy Cott, the late Charles T. Davis, and Michael Green.
For their extensive critical comments and insights I owe particular
thanks to Joanne Braxton, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Valarie Hart-
mann, Ketu Katrak, Richard Slotkin, Mary Helen Washington,
Susan Willis, and Jean Yellin. To all my colleagues at Birmingham,
Yale, and Wesleyan universities I owe thanks for their stimulating
and supportive friendship. Paul Gilroy, Vron Ware, Errol Law-
rence, Val Amos, and Pratibha Parma have long been sisters and
brothers in the political struggle for black liberation. For his rigor-
ous intellect, political acumen, and theoretical insights, and for
being the best teacher I ever had, I am indebted to Stuart Hall. For
his extensive editorial assistance, his constant emotional support
and encouragement, and for being my best friend, I thank Michael
Denning.
A different version of Chapter Five appeared as "'On the
Threshold of Woman's Era': Lynching, Empire and Sexuality in
Black Feminist Theory," in Critical Inquiry 12 (Autumn 1985):
262-77, copyright © 1985 by the University of Chicago.
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Contents
1 "Woman's Era"
Rethinking Black Feminist Theory 3
2 Slave and Mistress
Ideologies of Womanhood under Slavery 20
3 "Hear My Voice, Ye Careless Daughters"
Narratives of Slave and Free Women before Emancipation 40
4 "Of Lasting Service for the Race"
The Work of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper 62
5 "In the Quiet, Undisputed Dignity of
My Womanhood"
Black Feminist Thought after Emancipation 95
6 "Of What Use Is Fiction?"
Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins 121
7 "All the Fire and Romance"
The Magazine Fiction of Pauline Hopkins 145
8 The Quicksands of Representation
Rethinking Black Cultural Politics 163
Notes 177
Bibliography of Texts by Black Women Authors 199
General Bibliography 205
Index 217
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Reconstructing Womanhood