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AMST 246 - Lecture 24 - Faulkner's Light in August, Part III
Lecture 24 - Faulkner's Light in August, Part III
Overview
Professor Wai Chee Dimock focuses on the unresolved problem of race in Light in August, focusing her discussion on the variety of reflexive and calculated uses of the word “nigger” as a charged term toward Joe Christmas. She shows how the semantic burden of the word varies – used under duress by Joe Brown and the dietician, deliberately made light of by Hightower and Bobbie, fused with the contrary meanings of Calvinist theology by Joanna Burden, and finally ironized by Joe Christmas himself. Dimock uses these multiple uses of the word “nigger” to meditate on the making of racial identities and our collective input into that process.
Warning: This lecture contains graphic content and/or adult language that some users may find disturbing.
Resources
Assignment
Faulkner, Light in August
Lecture Chapters
- The Unresolved Problem of Race in Light in August [0]
- Under Duress: Joe Brown uses the Word “Nigger” [421]
- The Dietitian’s Involuntary Use of the Word “Nigger” [585]
- The Dietitian’s Instrumental Use of the Word “Nigger” [841]
- Hightower’s Agonized Use of the Word “Nigger” [1014]
- The Two Faces of Hightower [1177]
- Bobbie’s Trivializing Usage of the Word “Nigger” [1291]
- Bobbie’s Involuntary Use of the World “Nigger” [1437]
- Joanna Burden’s Theology of the “Nigger” as an Eternal Curse [1618]
- The Burden’s Calvinist Genealogy [2087]
- Joanna Burden’s: the word “Negro”as Sexual License [2378]
- Joe Christmas’s Ironic Use of the Word “Nigger” [2823]
Lecture Chapters
- The Unresolved Problem of Race in Light in August [0]
- Under Duress: Joe Brown uses the Word “Nigger” [421]
- The Dietitian’s Involuntary Use of the Word “Nigger” [585]
- The Dietitian’s Instrumental Use of the Word “Nigger” [841]
- Hightower’s Agonized Use of the Word “Nigger” [1014]
- The Two Faces of Hightower [1177]
- Bobbie’s Trivializing Usage of the Word “Nigger” [1291]
- Bobbie’s Involuntary Use of the World “Nigger” [1437]
- Joanna Burden’s Theology of the “Nigger” as an Eternal Curse [1618]
- The Burden’s Calvinist Genealogy [2087]
- Joanna Burden’s: the word “Negro”as Sexual License [2378]
- Joe Christmas’s Ironic Use of the Word “Nigger” [2823]