Darkening the Dream: The Fantasy of History and Reality of Difference in Libba Bray’s The Diviners
This essay addresses how Libba Bray’s 2012 children’s and young adult historical fantasy novel, The Diviners, represents an alternative literary articulation of US history in the modernist period that links difference to the material contexts of American history and society. I explore how historical...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Franklin University Switzerland
2016-12-01
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| Series: | Intervalla : Platform for Intellectual Exchange |
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| Online Access: | https://www.fus.edu/intervalla-files/vol4/7-JR.pdf |
| _version_ | 1818359632323674112 |
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| author | Jennifer A. Reimer |
| author_facet | Jennifer A. Reimer |
| author_sort | Jennifer A. Reimer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This essay addresses how Libba Bray’s 2012 children’s and young adult historical fantasy novel, The Diviners, represents an alternative literary articulation of US history in the modernist period that links difference to the material contexts of American history and society. I explore how historical fantasy allows Bray to connect the imaginative possibilities of the speculative genres to a critique of practices of exclusion in the US. Through an analysis of how Bray represents diverse characters in America in the 1920s, I argue that the novel reflects the ways in which the inter-war years shaped the racial and ethnic paradigms that would define a great deal of twentieth-century America. I focus in particular on the novel’s engagement with the Harlem Renaissance, nativism, and immigration restriction. In trespassing the borders and boundaries of genre, history, identity and reality, The Diviners harnesses the potential of the speculative genres to imagine alternatively. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T20:47:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-913973bf5f6647adb51c4661ad2ad4fa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-3413 2296-3413 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T20:47:59Z |
| publishDate | 2016-12-01 |
| publisher | Franklin University Switzerland |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Intervalla : Platform for Intellectual Exchange |
| spelling | doaj.art-913973bf5f6647adb51c4661ad2ad4fa2022-12-21T23:31:56ZengFranklin University SwitzerlandIntervalla : Platform for Intellectual Exchange2296-34132296-34132016-12-014166195Darkening the Dream: The Fantasy of History and Reality of Difference in Libba Bray’s The DivinersJennifer A. Reimer0Bilkent UniversityThis essay addresses how Libba Bray’s 2012 children’s and young adult historical fantasy novel, The Diviners, represents an alternative literary articulation of US history in the modernist period that links difference to the material contexts of American history and society. I explore how historical fantasy allows Bray to connect the imaginative possibilities of the speculative genres to a critique of practices of exclusion in the US. Through an analysis of how Bray represents diverse characters in America in the 1920s, I argue that the novel reflects the ways in which the inter-war years shaped the racial and ethnic paradigms that would define a great deal of twentieth-century America. I focus in particular on the novel’s engagement with the Harlem Renaissance, nativism, and immigration restriction. In trespassing the borders and boundaries of genre, history, identity and reality, The Diviners harnesses the potential of the speculative genres to imagine alternatively.https://www.fus.edu/intervalla-files/vol4/7-JR.pdfya literaturethe jazz agerace & ethnicityhistorical fantasythe harlem renaissanceamerican historycontemporary american literatureus immigration |
| spellingShingle | Jennifer A. Reimer Darkening the Dream: The Fantasy of History and Reality of Difference in Libba Bray’s The Diviners Intervalla : Platform for Intellectual Exchange ya literature the jazz age race & ethnicity historical fantasy the harlem renaissance american history contemporary american literature us immigration |
| title | Darkening the Dream: The Fantasy of History and Reality of Difference in Libba Bray’s The Diviners |
| title_full | Darkening the Dream: The Fantasy of History and Reality of Difference in Libba Bray’s The Diviners |
| title_fullStr | Darkening the Dream: The Fantasy of History and Reality of Difference in Libba Bray’s The Diviners |
| title_full_unstemmed | Darkening the Dream: The Fantasy of History and Reality of Difference in Libba Bray’s The Diviners |
| title_short | Darkening the Dream: The Fantasy of History and Reality of Difference in Libba Bray’s The Diviners |
| title_sort | darkening the dream the fantasy of history and reality of difference in libba bray s the diviners |
| topic | ya literature the jazz age race & ethnicity historical fantasy the harlem renaissance american history contemporary american literature us immigration |
| url | https://www.fus.edu/intervalla-files/vol4/7-JR.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jenniferareimer darkeningthedreamthefantasyofhistoryandrealityofdifferenceinlibbabraysthediviners |