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From Respectable to Pleasurable: Companionate Marriage in African American Novels, 1919-1937

Ishikawa, Chiaki
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1376984492

Abstract Details

2013, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, English.
This dissertation examines the ways in which companionate marriage ideology of the 1920s and 30s affected representations of heterosexual relations in novels written by African American authors of that time. Scholars often consider respectability as the dominant concept of African American sexual politics of this era. I propose, instead, that, under the influence of companionate marriage ideology, African American authors pushed forward the notion of pleasure in the sexual lives of African Americans. The background for this argument is set up in the introduction which provides a historical overview of African American discussions of sex and marriage in the early decades of the twentieth century. The first chapter analyzes W.E.B. Du Bois’ promotion of a race-specific, uplift-minded version of companionate marriage, identified specifically as partnership marriage. He expressed his vision of marriage for the race in his nonfiction as well as his novel Dark Princess. In the second chapter, I suggest that Nella Larsen’s Quicksand is a critique of traditional, reproduction-centered marriage, while Passing by the same author explores various problems that arise from the expectation of eroticized marriage. The third chapter explicates Zora Neale Hurston’s representation of African American companionate marriage in Their Eyes Were Watching God and suggests that it directly opposes existing sexual norms including Du Boisian partnership marriage. The fourth chapter analyzes Wallace Thurman’s The Blacker the Berry to argue that Thurman not only considers the institution of marriage as contradictory to the reality of African American men’s and women’s sexual lives but also proposes an alternative way in which to look at intimate relations. To conclude my argument, I suggest that all the texts discussed in this dissertation share a move from respectable to pleasurable, which is to say, their representations of marriage are premised on the idea that pleasure is fundamentally good and should be recognized as a healthy trait of human sexuality. The emphasis on pleasure in Harlem Renaissance literature presents a parallel, rather than a contrast, to the sexual expressiveness of the blues culture of the same era. This dissertation thus lays the ground for a reconsideration of the often-assumed division of cultural work between the two genres of African American blues music and African American literature
Debra Moddelmog (Advisor)
African American Studies; American Literature; History; Womens Studies
the Harlem Renaissance; History of Sexuality; Companionate Marriage, African Americans

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Ishikawa, C. (2013). From Respectable to Pleasurable: Companionate Marriage in African American Novels, 1919-1937 [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1376984492

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Ishikawa, Chiaki. From Respectable to Pleasurable: Companionate Marriage in African American Novels, 1919-1937 . 2013. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1376984492.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Ishikawa, Chiaki. "From Respectable to Pleasurable: Companionate Marriage in African American Novels, 1919-1937 ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1376984492

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.