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AMST 246: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner

Lecture 24 - Faulkner's Light in August, Part III. 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. (from oyc.yale.edu)

Lecture 24 - Faulkner's Light in August, Part III

Time Lecture Chapters
[00:00:00] 1. The Unresolved Problem of Race in Light in August
[00:07:01] 2. Under Duress: Joe Brown uses the Word "Nigger"
[00:09:45] 3. The Dietitian's Involuntary Use of the Word "Nigger"
[00:14:01] 4. The Dietitian's Instrumental Use of the Word "Nigger"
[00:16:54] 5. Hightower's Agonized Use of the Word "Nigger"
[00:19:37] 6. The Two Faces of Hightower
[00:21:31] 7. Bobbie's Trivializing Usage of the Word "Nigger"
[00:23:57] 8. Bobbie's Involuntary Use of the World "Nigger"
[00:26:58] 9. Joanna Burden's Theology of the "Nigger" as an Eternal Curse
[00:34:47] 10. The Burden's Calvinist Genealogy
[00:39:38] 11. Joanna Burden's: the word "Negro" as Sexual License
[00:47:03] 12. Joe Christmas's Ironic Use of the Word "Nigger"

References
Lecture 24 - Faulkner's Light in August, Part III
Instructor: Professor Wai Chee Dimock. Credit List [PDF]. Transcript [html]. Audio [mp3]. Download Video [mov].

Go to the Course Home or watch other lectures:

Lecture 01 - Introduction
Lecture 02 - Hemingway's In Our Time
Lecture 03 - Hemingway's In Our Time, Part II
Lecture 04 - Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
Lecture 05 - Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Part II
Lecture 06 - Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury
Lecture 07 - Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, Part II
Lecture 08 - Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, Part III
Lecture 09 - Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, Part IV
Lecture 10 - Hemingway's To Have and Have Not
Lecture 11 - Hemingway's To Have and Have Not, Part II
Lecture 12 - Fitzgerald's Short Stories
Lecture 13 - Faulkner's As I Lay Dying
Lecture 14 - Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, Part II
Lecture 15 - Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, Part III
Lecture 16 - Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls
Lecture 17 - Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, Part II
Lecture 18 - Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, Part III
Lecture 19 - Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, Part IV
Lecture 20 - Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night
Lecture 21 - Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night, Part II
Lecture 22 - Faulkner's Light in August
Lecture 23 - Faulkner's Light in August, Part II
Lecture 24 - Faulkner's Light in August, Part III
Lecture 25 - Faulkner's Light in August, Part IV