The House Behind the Cedars Unabridged Edition Charles W Chesnutt 9781434409362 Books
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"The House Behind the Cedars" (1900) was Chesnutt's response to what he believed were inadequate depictions of the complexity of race and the South's social relations. He believed that he could contribute a more realistic portrait of his region and community drawn from personal experience. He was also concerned with the silence around issues of passing and miscegenation and hoped to provoke political discussion through the novel.
The House Behind the Cedars Unabridged Edition Charles W Chesnutt 9781434409362 Books
This was written by a man who could have passed for white but chose to identify with his black heritage. He lived during the early years of the 20th century. The stories becoming thematically repetitive and, by today's standards, a little racist. The stories always begin by the narration of the white man who bought a farm and some random happenstance of the day, then an older "uncle type" black character tells a story to pass some time. This story is often humorous and has aspects of magic in it. The story ends and somehow the white characters always make a decision that then they later finds out benefits the black character and he told them the story to subconsciously sway their opinion. They aren't upset that he supposedly tricked them but shrug it off as "quaint". The upside to the book is the interesting viewpoints from black characters in the stories. They are very real and genuine and portray a unique perspective during this time in history when most characters in fiction are white and black characters are tangential.Product details
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Tags : The House Behind the Cedars: Unabridged Edition [Charles W. Chesnutt] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The House Behind the Cedars (1900) was Chesnutt's response to what he believed were inadequate depictions of the complexity of race and the South's social relations. He believed that he could contribute a more realistic portrait of his region and community drawn from personal experience. He was also concerned with the silence around issues of passing and miscegenation and hoped to provoke political discussion through the novel.,Charles W. Chesnutt,The House Behind the Cedars: Unabridged Edition,World Library Classics,1434409368,Fiction Historical
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The House Behind the Cedars Unabridged Edition Charles W Chesnutt 9781434409362 Books Reviews
Great book
Excellent insight into the time period regarding race, and the feelings of different races about race and the caste system.
The book is interesting in concept and has a good message. It is not written for me though. I personally did not care for it, but I do see the value in it.
This was one of the most poignant, moving and tragic stories that I have read. It was so much more relevant to our American culture than any of the classic Greek tragedies because it goes to the heart of America’s original sin - slavery and the awful racism that it spawned.
Charles Chesnutt an African American author from Cleveland, Ohio tells this tragic love story between the races. One passing for white.
This period piece during Reconstruction gives us a glimpse into the personal lives of the newly freed slaves and the southern psyche of the whites left to ponder and decide how they would cope with this new age forced upon them.
Inequities abound for the Blacks. Chesnutt has captured the essence and the pathos of the times.
The author, Charles Waddell Chesnutt, was born in Ohio with mixed race blood in the middle of 1858. The House Behind the Cedars was published in late 1900s. The story begins shortly after the Civil War and examines the obstacles faced by both sides of the racial divide, focusing on two light-skinned African American siblings (a brother and sister) whose heritage is primarily white, but with some African ancestry. They are regarded as mulattos by those who know, but easily pass as whites elsewhere. The story illuminates their struggles and the oppressive effects of racism during changing perceptions within the socioeconomic caste system of the Carolinas during the Reconstruction Era as they risk living as whites at a time when being discovered could have devastating effects. An easy read and a touching story, without the weight of brutal imagery.
Charles W. Chesnutt was an author of mixed African American and white European ancestry. His first novel, The House Behind the Cedars, was published in 1900. It takes place in the American South a few years after the Civil War. John Warwick pays a visit to Patesville, North Carolina, the town where he grew up. He has since made a name for himself as a successful lawyer in Clarence, South Carolina. Despite his admirable position and achievements, he chooses to keep his hometown return a secret. Warwick is an assumed name, and he sneaks through the streets avoiding recognition. He has come seeking his sister Rena, with the intention of taking her back with him to South Carolina, in hopes of elevating her station in life to a level equal with his own. His family has a big secret that must be kept at all costs if his plan is to succeed.
Chesnutt doesn’t tell the reader what this secret is. He skillfully keeps that detail hidden, slowly dropping hints and innuendos. If you know anything about the author, you’ve got a pretty good idea as to the nature of this skeleton in the closet, and by the time Chesnutt reveals the truth it’s more like a recognition of assumed fact than the dropping of a bomb. The House Behind the Cedars offers a fascinatingly nuanced portrait of race relations in the American South. After the Civil War, blacks were nominally free, but few enjoyed the full rights of free people. One drop of African blood was enough to mark someone as a second-class citizen. Chesnutt illustrates the difficulty of living under this oppressive code of racial segregation. Some of the whites are outright racists, while others are favorably disposed toward equality. Some appear one way on the surface, but beneath a liberal facade lie deep-seated prejudices. Chesnutt also explores racism within the black community between those of lighter and darker complexions. The picture he paints of the Southern social landscape is intriguingly complex and diverse. While the subject matter calls to mind William Faulkner, Chesnutt tells his story in the straightforward naturalistic voice of turn-of-the-last-century realists like Hamlin Garland and Frank Norris.
The book’s one major flaw is that it relies far too heavily upon coincidence to move the plot forward. The Carolinas must be small territory indeed if people run into each other as often as they do in this novel. But this is fiction, after all, and at times departures must be made from reality in order to make a point or simply to entertain. After a while the story morphs into a romance like something Anthony Trollope might have written. Readers of today, so used to cinematic and literary depictions of white brutality against blacks in the 19th-century South, might consider this story a bit too rosy to be credible. Nowadays when it comes to this subject matter, we almost expect violence and cruelty. Though that threat is ever-present, Chesnutt’s tale is more concerned with social and moral dangers. He lived through these times, as a man of mixed race, and there is a ring of truth in his forthright prose that begs to be believed.
This is my first experience reading Chesnutt’s work, and he is a remarkable storyteller. The House Behind the Cedars is not only an educational and thought-provoking piece of social commentary, it’s also immensely entertaining. Though it defers to the conventions of Victorian romance fiction when convenient, the story is anything but conventional and the outcome is unpredictable until the very last page. Anyone with an appreciation for classic books should read this excellent novel.
This was written by a man who could have passed for white but chose to identify with his black heritage. He lived during the early years of the 20th century. The stories becoming thematically repetitive and, by today's standards, a little racist. The stories always begin by the narration of the white man who bought a farm and some random happenstance of the day, then an older "uncle type" black character tells a story to pass some time. This story is often humorous and has aspects of magic in it. The story ends and somehow the white characters always make a decision that then they later finds out benefits the black character and he told them the story to subconsciously sway their opinion. They aren't upset that he supposedly tricked them but shrug it off as "quaint". The upside to the book is the interesting viewpoints from black characters in the stories. They are very real and genuine and portray a unique perspective during this time in history when most characters in fiction are white and black characters are tangential.
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