Race, Mixed Heritage, and Unreconcilable Racial Dualities in Light in August
Atkinson, Ted. “The Impenetrable Lightness of Being: Miscegenation Imagery and the
Anxiety of Whiteness in Go Down, Moses.” Short Story Criticism, edited by Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 209, Gale, 2015. Gale Literature Criticism, Originally published in Faulkner and Formalism, edited by Annette Trefzer and Ann J. Abadie, UP of Mississippi, 2012, pp. 129-143. Although this work examines the novel Go Down, Moses, many of the ideas discussed, apply within the same historical and racial context of Light in August. Atkinson discusses how just like in Light in August, Go Down Moses investigates the relation of the individual and community, and whether the individual is perceived as being accepted or rejected by their community. He also discusses the behavior of the central character of Lucas Beauchamp, and his experience with societal judgement due to his race. Much of the content discussed in this essay can also be used within the circumstances of Joe Christmas, in Light in August, which is why I believe this essay is still relevant to my topic.
Friday, Krister.”Miscegenated Time:The Spectral Body, Race, and Temporality in Light in
August” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 170, Gale, 2006. Gale Literature Criticism. Originally published in Faulkner Journal, vol. 16, no. 3, Fall 2000, pp. 41-63. In this essay Krister Friday discusses the essential role miscegenation plays in the lives of many of the characters, specifically in the life of Joe Christmas. Fridays examines the consequences of miscegenation, and how many of the characters must accept the complexities resulting from these racial unions, since these unions are in complete opposition of racist ideologies, and Southern values.
Jackson, Chuck. “American Emergencies: Whiteness, the National Guard, and Light in August.”
The Faulkner Journal, vol. 22, no. 1-2, 2006, p. 193+. Gale Literature Resource Center. In this essay, Jackson Chuck discusses racial divisions, racial interpretations, and the communal view on racial ambiguity. He also discusses “whiteness” and “blackness” in the context of the South, and specifically in Light in August.
Wilhelm, Randall. “Framing Joe Christmas: vision and detection in Light in August.”
The Mississippi Quarterly, vol. 64, no. 3-4, 2011, p. 393+. Gale Literature Resource Center. In this essay William Randall discusses imagery, and visual light in Light in August, and how this plays a role in illuminating or obscuring certain parts of the narrative. He also explores how race, and light play a role in the projection of Joe Christmas, as a murderer. I believe this essay will be useful since this will help my discussion of the many complications associated with racism, within the Southern historical context of the novel.
Barhow, Abdul-Razzak al-. “Focusing on the Margins: ‘Light in August’ and Social Change.”
The Southern Literary Journal, vol. 42, no. 2, 2010, p. 52+. Gale Academic OneFile. In this work Barhow, discusses racial and social ideologies, and how racist ideologies create marginalized members of society.
