The Interrogation of Knowledge and (Re)Writing of History in Edward P. Jones’s The Known World

• 영문명: The Interrogation of Knowledge and (Re)Writing of History in Edward P. Jones’s The Known World
• 발행기관: 한국아메리카학회
• 저자명: Julie Kye Yang
• 간행물 정보: 『미국학논집』제55집 2호, 99~120쪽, 전체 22쪽
• 주제분류: 인문학 > 기타인문학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2023.09.30

영문 초록

Edward P. Jones’s The Known World (2003) probes into the fallacy of the written texts which are primarily law and the Bible, compares these with other forms of knowledge, and reconfigures history through fictional writing. This paper first examines the power/knowledge relationship by looking into how law and the Bible worked in tandem to buttress slavery in the antebellum South. To undercut the exclusive power of written knowledge, Jones examines the strengths and weaknesses of competing art forms. In so doing, Jones reveals that knowledge exists in many different figures, that other forms can empower Blacks. As such, Jones is both expanding what counts as knowledge and how it is materialized. Finally, Jones writes both as a historian and a fiction writer. Using his imagination, Jones rewrites the past parodying the ways in which “history” has been written. Hence, The Known World is the assessing of the past, a rewriting of the history, and a comment on the present.

목차

Introduction

The Power of Written Texts in the Antebellum South

Revealing the Limitations of Written Knowledge and Contesting its Dominance

The Construction of History and the Power of Fiction

Conclusion

Works Cited

키워드

slavery historical narrative power and knowledge antebellum South African American literature