[The] discussions of Twain, Howells, Chesnutt, and Johnson... lucidly illustrate the ways that four of our major writers struggled to create literary forms enabling them not only to reflect but also to intervene in contemporary racial debates, and in the process to begin shifting the generic boundaries of American literature. - American Literary Realism ""[A Question of Character] fills in significant gaps in the critical discourse about genre, race, and science at the turn of the century.... [The] introduction and first chapter are extremely useful for explicating how racial discourse in realism and sentimentalism helps determine genre.... [This book] should be required reading for scholars interested in early theories about scientific racism."" - Choice ""Richly informed and theoretically astute."" - American Quarterly
