On Incest and Miscegenation

I did not know that Sally Hemings was Martha Jefferson’s (Thomas Jefferson’s wife’s) half sister. The miscegenation occurring in the context of slavery often seems to involve incest, not least in novels. I should teach a course on this so that I can write a book about it. Now I will start listing the relevant novels, although it is late and I will begin with only a few.

Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!
Isaacs, María
Matto de Turner, Aves sin nido
Villaverde, Cecilia Valdés

Related is Otto Rank on the incest theme in literature in legend. And there is much more. I need to check Azevedo, O Mulato – is the woman he marries a cousin? And yes, I am hoping for comments on this post.

Axé.