Noemi Fernández Labarga

I am fascinated by how the rhetorical and thematic constructions of race in postbellum American literature have influenced broader racial narratives within US culture. I intend to use the types of questions that Morrison invokes in “The Trouble with Paradise” as a guide for my research: What does a “race specific/race free” language look like? To what degree—as readers—do we depend on racial markers and other identity signposts to navigate literature? What, if any, is the reconciliatory potential in language? I will draw from literary theory, political theory, and cultural studies to trace how this language operates with the ultimate aim of advancing Morrison’s linguistic project.

Publications

Fernández Labarga, N. (September 2020). “‘No Gray Middle Folk Did He See’: Racial Constructions in Cormac McCarthy’s Suttree.” The Cormac McCarthy Journal, vol. 18, no. 2, 2020, pp. 118-136.

Recent Scholarly Activity

“Invisible Man in the Age of Covid.” Paper presented virtually in August, 2021 at the annual UCLA Southland Conference 2021: Emergences. 

“Ethical Implications of Genetic Selection in Sheri Tepper’s Gate to Women’s Country.” Paper presented on August, 2019 at the Popular Arts Culture in the South & American Culture Association in the South (PCAS/ACAS) Conference, Wilmington, NC. 

“‘No Gray Middle Folk Did He See’: The Role of the Africanist Presence in Cormac McCarthy’s Suttree.” Paper presented in August, 2019 at the annual Cormac McCarthy Conference, Austin, TX.