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Reading, Race, and Charles Chesnutt's "Uncle Julius" Tales
- ELH
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 74, Number 1, Spring 2007
- pp. 195-215
- 10.1353/elh.2007.0003
- Article
- Additional Information
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In "Reading, Race, and Charles Chesnutt's "Uncle Julius" Tales, I analyze the complex cultural role of plantation literature popularized in ante- and post-bellum American literary magazines in relation to Chesnutt's short stories, which debuted in the Atlantic Monthly in 1887. I argue that plantation literature in general, and Chesnutt's tales in particular, highlight an ongoing struggle between sentimental and realistic representations of racial difference in literary magazines. I conclude that Chesnutt's tales, usually read in the tradition of African-American folklore, are better understood as intervening in the debates about reading, writing, and race in these influential publications.