Neither Black nor White yet Both

Werner Sollors is Henry B. and Anne M. Cabot Professor of English Literature and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University.

• List of Illustrations Introduction: Black--White--Both--Neither--In-Between 1. Origins; or, Paradise Dawning 2. Natus Aethiopus/Natus Albus 3. The Curse of Ham; or, From "Generation" to "Race" 4. The Calculus of Color 5. The Bluish Tinge in the Halfmoon; or, Fingernails as a Racial Sign 6. Code Noir and Literature 7. Retellings: Mercenaries and Abolitionists 8. Excursus on the "Tragic Mulatto"; or, The Fate of a Stereotype 9. Passing; or, Sacrificing a Parvenu 10. Incest and Miscegenation Endings Appendix A: A Chronology of Interracial Literature Appendix B: Prohibitions of Interracial Marriage arid Cohabitation Notes Selected Bibliography Index

Sollors limns the discourse on race that dominated the world that each text entered, and presents what passed for ‘scientific’ knowledge at the time, thereby shedding light on the cultural work accomplished by each novel or poem. He also shows how the same basic stories have been retold by different writers, each reshaping and transforming the tale in light of the racial politics of his or her own time...Neither Black nor White yet Both, a stunning achievement, will be of interest to anyone who cares about race and culture.