Queering the Color Line: Race and the Invention of Homosexuality in American Culture (Series Q)
Black and queer studies have, for the most part, proceeded separately; here, Somerville (English and women's studies, Purdue Univ.) examines the intersections between these fields. In five essays, she looks at the writings of Jean Toomer and Pauline E. Hopkins, James Weldon Johnson's Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man, the film A Florida Enchantment, and scientific racism. Although limited in scope, her essays do address a number of issues significant in turn of-the-century African American and gay lifeAlike "passing" and self-identificationAand, in doing so, raise interesting questions about the representation of race and sexual identity in U.S. culture. Recommended for all academic sociology and literature collections.AAnthony J. Adam, Prairie View A&M; Univ. Lib., TXCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.