Ethnic Modernisms: Anzia Yezierska, Zora Neale Hurston, Jean Rhys, and the Aesthetics of Dislocation

216 Pages·2002·1.3 MB·English

by  Delia Caparoso Konzett (auth.)

Ethnic Modernisms (cid:2)
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Ethnic Modernisms (cid:2)
Anzia Yezierska, Zora Neale Hurston,
Jean Rhys, and the Aesthetics of Dislocation
Delia Caparoso Konzett
ETHNICMODERNISMS
Copyright © Delia Caparoso Konzett, 2002.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002 978-0-312-29345-1
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
First published 2002 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™
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European Union and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-38746-5 ISBN 978-0-230-10753-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230107533
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Konzett, Delia Caparoso.
Ethnic modernisms : Anzia Yezierska, Zora Neale Hurston, Jean Rhys,
and the aesthetics of dislocation / by Delia Caparoso Konzett.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-349-38746-5
1. American literature—Women authors—History and criticism.
2. Emigration and immigration in literature. 3. Women and literature—
United States—History—20th century. 4. Yezierska, Anzia,
1880?–1970—Criticism and interpretation. 5. American literature—20th
century—History and criticism. 6. Hurston, Zora Neale—Criticism and
interpretation. 7. Rhys, Jean—Criticism and interpretation. 8. African
Americans in literature. 9. Ethnic groups in literature. 10. Expatriation
in literature. 11. Immigrants in literature. 12. Modernism (Literature)
13. Jews in literature. I. Title.
PS228.E55 K66 2002
810.9’920691—dc21 2002069379
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Design by Letra Libre, Inc.
First edition: November 2002
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dedications
For
Matthias
&
For My Parents,
Antonio and Magdalina
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Permissions xi
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction Ethnic Modernisms and Their Avant-Gardes 1
Chapter I Anzia Yezierska and the Experience of
the Assimilated Jew 19
Introduction
The New Immigration as Ethnic Catalyst
The Experience of Immigrant English in Hungry Hearts
The Conscious Pariah: Toward a Transnational Aesthetics
From Hollywood to Hester Street: The Image of the
Assimilated Jew in Hungry Heartsthe Film
Chapter II Black Folk Culture and the Aesthetics of
Dislocation in Zora Neale Hurston 69
Introduction
Race, Nation and Art: The Harlem Renaissance
The Folk in Harlem: Zora Neale Hurston’s Urban Folklore
The Transnational Perspective: The Experience of the African
Diaspora in Tell My Horseand Moses, Man of the Mountain
“Getting in Touch with the True South”: Pet Negroes,
White Crackers and Racial Staging in Seraph on the Suwanee
Chapter III White Mythologies: Jean Rhys’s Aesthetics of
Posthumanism 127
Introduction
Wide Sargasso Sea:White Masks and Their Creolization
An Expatriate among Expatriates: The Banality of Exile
Good Morning, Midnight:Commodity, Distraction,
and the Displaced Masses
Concluding Remarks on the Marketability of Ethnicity 167
Notes 169
Works Cited 187
Index 197
Acknowledgments
This study has benefited greatly from the help and commentary of
Miriam Hansen, Katie Trumpener, Angel Medina, Mary Lou Emery,
Donald Marshall, Charles Musser, and Matthias Konzett as well as
the excellent anonymous readers supplied by Palgrave. I would also like to
thank the editors of American Literature,Journal of Film and Video,and Jour-
nal of Caribbean Literature, in which early versions of chapters have ap-
peared. At Palgrave, my appreciation goes to Kristi Long for her very
generous help and support, as well as Roee Raz and Meg Weaver for their as-
sistance in preparing this manuscript. This study was also made possible
through a dissertation grant from the Mellon Foundation. And for their sup-
port and love, I am especially grateful to my family.