The willed recovery of what's been lost - often forcibly, I suppose - is what keeps me going. It is this reason I found myself a poet and a collector and now a curator: to save what we didn't even know needed saving.
Kevin YoungRead
Race is the true protagonist of the American novel. Our most popular classic fictions have known this, from 'Moby Dick' to 'Beloved;' all these books take on race or talk it out, often in other forms; they are less 'horror stories for boys' than ghost stories from a haunted conscience.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes that themes of race play a central role in American literature, reflecting deep societal issues.
Kevin Young articulates that the American novel cannot be separated from the theme of race, as it is a central element that shapes narratives and characters. He suggests that classic works like 'Moby Dick' and 'Beloved' tackle the complexities of race, presenting them not merely as thrilling tales but as profound reflections of a society grappling with its haunting past and conscience.
Themes
RaceLiteratureAmerican NovelConscienceClassic Fiction
In practice
Example use cases
In a literary analysis presentation on the themes of race in American novels.
More from Kevin Young
All quotes →At our peril, we ignore the fact that black vernacular, like the blues, both has a form and performs... For just as there would be no American music without black folks, there would be very little of our American language.
Kevin YoungRead
There's something about the kind of time travel that a poem can provide. It can take you to somewhere else - a culture far from you, a language far from you, but suddenly you're there. You're that person, seeing with that person's eyes. I think that's really tremendous. Even things like cinema or more traditional history can't quite do that.
Kevin YoungRead
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