The Half-Blood: A Cultural Symbol in 19th-Century American Fiction
by William J. Scheick
- Used
- as new
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- As New/As New
- ISBN 10
- 0813113903
- ISBN 13
- 9780813113906
- Seller
-
Brooktondale, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Volume, measuring approximately 6" x 9", is bound in red cloth, with stamped gilt lettering to spine. Book and dust jacket are like new. xii/113 pages.
"The half-blood -- half Indian, half white -- is a frequent figure in the popular fiction of nineteenth-century America, for he (or sometimes she) served to symbolize many of the conflicting cultural values with which American society was then wrestling. In literature, as in real life the half-blood was a product of the frontier, embodying the conflict between wilderness and civilization that haunted and stirred the American imagination. What was his identity? Was he indeed "half Indian, half white, and half devil" -- or a bright link between the races from which would emerge a new American prototype? In this important first study of the fictional half-blood, William J. Scheick examines works ranging from the enormously popular "dime novels" and the short fiction of such writers as Bret Harte to the more sophisticated works of Irving, Cooper, Poe, Hawthorne, and others. He discovers that ambivalence characterized nearly all who wrote of the half-blood. Some writers found racial mixing abhorrent, while others saw more benign possibilities. The use of a "half-blood in spirit" -- a character of untainted blood who joined the virtues of the two races in his manner of life -- was one ingenious literary strategy adopted by a number of writers, Scheick also compares the literary portrayal of the half-blood with the nineteenth-century view of the mulatto. This pioneering examination of an important symbol in popular literature of the last century opens up a previously unexplored repository of attitudes toward American civilization."
"The half-blood -- half Indian, half white -- is a frequent figure in the popular fiction of nineteenth-century America, for he (or sometimes she) served to symbolize many of the conflicting cultural values with which American society was then wrestling. In literature, as in real life the half-blood was a product of the frontier, embodying the conflict between wilderness and civilization that haunted and stirred the American imagination. What was his identity? Was he indeed "half Indian, half white, and half devil" -- or a bright link between the races from which would emerge a new American prototype? In this important first study of the fictional half-blood, William J. Scheick examines works ranging from the enormously popular "dime novels" and the short fiction of such writers as Bret Harte to the more sophisticated works of Irving, Cooper, Poe, Hawthorne, and others. He discovers that ambivalence characterized nearly all who wrote of the half-blood. Some writers found racial mixing abhorrent, while others saw more benign possibilities. The use of a "half-blood in spirit" -- a character of untainted blood who joined the virtues of the two races in his manner of life -- was one ingenious literary strategy adopted by a number of writers, Scheick also compares the literary portrayal of the half-blood with the nineteenth-century view of the mulatto. This pioneering examination of an important symbol in popular literature of the last century opens up a previously unexplored repository of attitudes toward American civilization."
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Details
- Bookseller
- Palimpsest Scholarly Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 461c
- Title
- The Half-Blood: A Cultural Symbol in 19th-Century American Fiction
- Author
- William J. Scheick
- Book Condition
- New As New
- Jacket Condition
- As New
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10
- 0813113903
- ISBN 13
- 9780813113906
- Publisher
- The University Press of Kentucky
- Place of Publication
- Lexington
- Date Published
- 1979
Terms of Sale
Palimpsest Scholarly Books
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About the Seller
Palimpsest Scholarly Books
Biblio member since 2017
Brooktondale, New York
About Palimpsest Scholarly Books
Palimpsest Scholarly Books & Services is a new online bookstore founded and managed by Dr. Raul Delgado-Rodriguez, a Harvard-trained comparatist. It specializes in the buying and selling of scholarly and rare books, as well as providing services for collectors of such books, including the appraisal of private collections. We have titles across a broad range of fields and cultures. We specialize in providing uncommon foreign-language works.
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- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...