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The form and formlessness of histories, regions, races, ballads, fictions, lists, characters, and mountains are among the topics of concern in Colson Whitehead's John Henry Days, and they pose a real challenge to conveying what this novel is like. Caroline Levine's Forms: Whole, Rhythm, Hierarchy, Network advocates considering forms in terms of their affordances, "the potential uses or actions latent in materials and designs" (6). This depends, however, on the reliable identification of forms in a particular text, activity, ormaterial; and the critical response to John Henry Days gives us evidence that, while we can analyze forms the novel deploys and contains, it remains a challenge to identify the novel's form as a whole. In a different vein, Heather Love'swork ondescription is explicitly concernedwith "forms of analysis," but not with the analysis of formper se. The present examination of JohnHenry Days attempts to bridge such valuable conversations about form and description. This article argues that as John Henry Days grapples with describing forms that constantly remake themselves, it takes a position akin to science and technology studies scholar Michael Lynch's theoretical agnosticism with respect to capital-O Ontology. Refusing anything like a full-blowntheory of form, John HenryDays both practices and advocates provisional taxonomy--touching and moving on--as a way of knowing its ever-changingmaterial. This article's analysis of the describer's nightmare is thus a case study for Lynch's claim that "particular descriptions--including descriptions of ontologies--can make sense, apparently even to others who do not share our grand theories". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A literary criticism of the novel "John Henry Days" by Colson Whitehead is presented. It explores the metarepresentational abilities of the novel's characters, particularly John Henry, a real-life 19th-century black railway worker and a legendary figure in U.S. folklore. The use of recollection and self-assessment to weigh information in the novel is discussed, as well as the development of the perspective of J. Sutter, the protagonist of the novel, at the ways histories are written.

Colson Whitehead's novel John Henry Days is part of a large trend in contemporary (post-Cold War) American literature of exploring overlooked or alternative historical currents as a means of coming to terms with the complexities, contradictions, and epistemological uncertainties of postmodern America. This essay argues that John Henry Days can be understood as a kind of secret history of the post-Reconstruction United States, charting a panoply of rhizomatic cultural meanderings, tangents, false starts, and subaltern strivings that paint this passage of time as defined by a repetitious series of self-sacrificing struggles against epochal new technologies in the process of radically reordering the social landscape and redefining the nature of humanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A literary criticism of the book "John Henry Days" by Colson Whitehead is presented. It analyzes the ghosts in the novel to emphasize the economic aspects of haunting and the commodification of history. Other topics include the objectification of African Americans, the covert racism implied in the use of the John Henry legend in the novel, and the John Henry Days festival.

A literary criticism of the book "John Henry Days" by Colson Whitehead is presented. It analyzes the depiction of black masculinity in U.S. society and its engagement with the legendary folk hero John Henry. Other topics include mourning and melancholia, the John Henry Days festival, and the history of railroad construction in the U.S.

The essay presents a literary criticism of three novels by Colson Whitehead, namely "The Intuitionist," "John Henry Days," and "Zone One," in which the author explores the aesthetics of race and postracialism. Topics include the history of race in American literature and culture, postmodern aesthetics, and speculative realism.

The article presents literary criticism on the books "John Henry Days" by Colson Whitehead and "The Plot Against America" by Philip Roth. Particular focus is given to the role of the U.S. postal system in both novels. According to the author, these works express concern about the state of postal print culture, which the writers see as linked to historical consciousness. Topics discussed include cultural pluralism, information technology, and postage stamps.

Provides information on the novel "John Henry Days," by Colin Whitehead, which focused on U.S. folklore. Description of the character of folk hero John Henry; Approach used by Whitehead to speculate on the differences in the views of whites and African American researchers on the folk hero; Role of a commemorative series of stamps focused on U.S. folk heroes in the creation of the novel; Racial and cultural legacy of the folk hero.