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The Dark Side Of Paradise: Race And Ethnicity In The Novels Of F. Scott Fitzgerald., Felipe Smith

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

According to author and scholar Ralph Ellison, the writers of the early twentieth century (with the exception of Faulkner) adopted Mark Twain's stylistic innovations in pursuit of their personal myth instead of "recreating and extending the national myth" by continuing Twain's development of "the Negro as the symbol of man." To Ellison, these writers had capitulated to a strong current prevalent in American thought: American self-definition in racially exclusive terms. They presented as reality stereotyped portrayals of blacks and other ethnic minorities which served as "key figure (s) in a magic rite by which the white American seeks to resolve …