Games of Property
Law, Race, Gender, and Faulkner's Go Down, Moses
Will be published approx. on 7. July 2003
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-0-8223-3103-2 (ISBN)
Description
In Games of Property, distinguished critic Thadious M. Davis provides a dazzling new interpretation of William Faulkner's Go Down, Moses. Davis argues that in its unrelenting attention to issues related to the ownership of land and people, Go Down, Moses ranks among Faulkner's finest and most accomplished works. Bringing together law, social history, game theory, and feminist critiques, she shows that the book is unified by games-fox hunting, gambling with cards and dice, racing-and, like the law, games are rule-dependent forms of social control and commentary. She illuminates the dual focus in Go Down, Moses on property and ownership on the one hand and on masculine sport and social ritual on the other. Games of Property is a masterful contribution to understandings of Faulkner's fiction and the power and scope of property law.
Reviews / Votes
"Every now and then, a book comes along that takes us utterly by surprise, reconfiguring old geographies of criticism with originality, power, and brilliance. Thadious M. Davis has produced just such a book. We (and William Faulkner!) are blessed by her attention to race, property, agency, game theory, and critical legal studies. Yoknapatawpha and its creator find radically new use value for a new millennium in Davis's labors, and we are all gifted with beautifully written scholarship, and an indispensable pedagogical meditation. Davis's 'Book of Moses' is must reading."-Houston A. Baker, Jr., author of Turning South Again: Re-thinking Modernism/Re-reading Booker T. "From the opening lines, we are in the presence of an original and powerful voice that expands the boundaries of the field of 'law and literature' and offers a fresh way of understanding one of William Faulkner's most elliptical texts."-Linda K. Kerber, May Brodbeck Professor of History, University of Iowa "It may sound hyperbolic to claim that nothing like this exists in Faulkner scholarship, but that's my claim. Games of Property contributes to a new understanding of not only Go Down, Moses, but of much of Faulkner's work."-Linda Wagner-Martin, Frank Borden Hanes Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of North Carolina, Chapel HillMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
North Carolina
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
21 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 241 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
567 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8223-3103-2 (9780822331032)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
07/2003
1st Edition
De Gruyter
€208.99
Available for download
Person
Thadious M. Davis is Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of Nella Larsen, Novelist of the Harlem Renaissance: A Woman's Life Unveiled and Faulkner's "Negro": Art and the Southern Context. She is the coeditor of Satire or Evasion?: Black Perspectives on Huckleberry Finn, published by Duke University Press.
Content
Illustrations viii
Acknowledgments x
Introduction: The Game of Genre 1
1. The Game of Challenge
43
2. The Object of Property 77
3. The Game of Boundaries
119
4. The Subject of Property 174
5. Conclusion: The Game of Compensation 223
Notes 263
Bibliography 309
Index 330
Acknowledgments x
Introduction: The Game of Genre 1
1. The Game of Challenge
43
2. The Object of Property 77
3. The Game of Boundaries
119
4. The Subject of Property 174
5. Conclusion: The Game of Compensation 223
Notes 263
Bibliography 309
Index 330