The House Behind the Cedars by Charles W Chesnutt

The House Behind the Cedars by Charles W Chesnutt

2015 Reprint of the 1901 edition. The House Behind the Cedars is the first novel by American author Charles W. Chesnutt. The story unfolds in the southern American states of North and South Carolina a few years following the American Civil War. Rena Walden, a young woman of mixed white and black ancestry, leaves home to join her brother, who has migrated to a new city, where he lives as a white man. Following her brother's lead, Rena begins living as a white woman. The secret of her identity leads to conflict when she falls in love with a white aristocrat who learns the truth of her heredity. The ensuing drama emphasizes themes of interracial relations and depicted the intricacies of racial identity in the American south. Chesnutt's autobiography informed the novel's themes. Being of predominantly European ancestry, Chesnutt was light skinned enough to pass as a white man, although he openly identified with his African-American roots. Needless to say, his portrayal of interracial romantic relations was controversial. Although the novel was critically well received, its controversy contributed to poor financial performance. Remains to this day an important exploration of racism in American fiction.

“A pioneering work about racial passing”
—Werner Sollors, Harvard University

Judith Jackson Fossett, associate professor of English and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California, is the author of Illuminated Darkness: Slavery and Its Shadows in Nineteenth-Century America and the editor of Race Consciousness: African-American Studies for the New Century.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780140186857
ISBN 10	0140186859
Title	The House Behind the Cedars
Author	Charles W Chesnutt
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Penguin Books Ltd
Year published	1993-04-01
Number of pages	224
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.