An Imperative Duty

An Imperative Duty
Author William Dean Howells
Original title An Imperative Duty: A Novel
Country United States
Language English
Genre Literary realism
Publisher Harper & Brothers
Publication date
1891 (First Edition)
Pages 150

An Imperative Duty is a short realist novel by William Dean Howells published in 1891. The novel explores the idea of "passing" through the racially mixed character of Rhoda Aldgate, a young woman whose aunt informs her that she is one-sixteenth African American. Rhoda lived her whole life "passing" as a white person.

List of Characters

Plot summary

The book is about Rhoda Aldgate, a young woman who discovers she is one-sixteenth African American, after living her whole life as a white person. Rhoda's father was Mrs. Meredith's brother, a white man, and Rhoda's mother was a southern woman of one-eighth black ancestry. In the nineteenth century, Rhoda's mother would have been referred to as an "octoroon."

Composition and publication history

The book is about a "Tragic Mulatta" character, a stereotype used by 19th-century American authors to explore racial miscegenation. [1] [2] [3]

References

  1. Drabelle, Dennis. Book Review of Broadview Press Edition of An Imperative Duty. "Book World: W.D. Howells's 1892 race-themed novella 'An Imperative Duty.'" The Washington Post',' 10 December 2010: no pagination.
  2. Rosenthal, Debra J. "The White Blackbird: Miscegenation, Genre, and the Tragic Mulatta in Howells, Harper, and the 'Babes of Romance.'" Nineteenth-Century Literature 56.4 (March 2002): 495-517.
  3. Daugherty, Sarah B. "'An Imperative Duty': Howells and White Male Anxiety." American Literary Realism, 1870-1910 30.3 (Spring, 1998): 53-64.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, December 07, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.