BIBFRAME Work

Title

Writing across the color line

Type

• Monograph
• Text

Contribution

• Dietrich, Lucas A. (author )

Subject

• American literature--Minority authors--Publishing (LCSH)
• Authors and readers--United States--History (LCSH)
• American literature--Minority authors--History and criticism (LCSH)
• Literature publishing--United States--History--20th century (LCSH)
• Authors and publishers--United States--History (LCSH)
• Literature publishing--United States--History--19th century (LCSH)

Language

• English

Illustrative Content

• illustrations

Classification

• LCC: Z480.L58 (Assigner: dlc) (Status: used by assigner)
• DDC: 810.9/8 (Assigner: dlc)

Content

• text

Supplementary content

• index
• bibliography

Summary

"The turn of the twentieth century was a period of experimental possibility for U.S. ethnic literature as a number of writers of color began to collaborate with the predominantly white publishing trade to make their work commercially available. In this new book, Lucas A. Dietrich analyzes publishers' and writers' archives to show how authors-including María Amparo Ruiz de Burton, Charles W. Chesnutt, Finley Peter Dunne, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Sui Sin Far-drew readers into their texts by subverting existing stereotypes and adapting styles of literary regionalism and dialect writing. Writing across the Color Line details how this body of literature was selected for publication, edited, manufactured, advertised, and distributed, even as it faced hostile criticism and frequent misinterpretation by white readers. Shedding light on the transformative potential of multiethnic literature and the tenacity of racist attitudes that dominated the literary marketplace, Dietrich proves that Native American, African American, Latinx, Asian American, and Irish American writers of the period relied on self-caricature, tricksterism, and the careful control of authorial personae to influence white audiences"-- Provided by publisher.

Table of Contents

Sensational job: María Amparo Ruiz de Burton in the J.B. Lippincott catalog -- Across the color line: Charles W. Chesnutt, Houghton Mifflin, and the racial paratext -- Satire of whiteness: Finley Peter Dunne's newspaper fictions -- Against benevolent readers: The souls of Black folk, Mrs. Spring fragrance,and A. C. McClurg and Company -- Epilogue: The future American.

Authorized Access Point

Dietrich, Lucas A. Writing across the color line

Government pub type

• state

Geographic Coverage

• United States

Admin Metadata

• Date: 2026-09-11T20:17:24.774006+00:00
• Agent: cbc
• Status: c
• Derived from: 23975140

Admin Metadata

• Date: 2026-09-11
• Cataloger id: Unknown
• Description level: http://id.loc.gov/ontologies/bibframe-2-6-0/
• Description language: eng
• Description authentication: pcc