Games of Property

Using Faulkner's Go Down Moses as a point of departure, this book explores the conflicting nature of property relations that have slavery in the U.S. at their base and have affected the conceptualizations of rights and representations of African Americans into the present

Provides a set of readings of William Faulkner's Go Down, Moses - sometimes characterized as a novel, sometimes as a collection of stories-that offers a deep understanding of the interrelationship between the treatment of persons as property and the perception of laws, social forms, and rituals as games.In Games of Property, distinguished critic Thadious M. Davis provides a dazzling new interpretation of William Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses. Davis argues that in its unrelenting attention to issues related to the ownership of land and people, Go Down, Moses ranks among Faulkner’s finest and most accomplished works. Bringing together law, social history, game theory, and feminist critiques, she shows that the book is unified by games—fox hunting, gambling with cards and dice, racing—and, like the law, games are rule-dependent forms of social control and commentary. She illuminates the dual focus in Go Down, Moses on property and ownership on the one hand and on masculine sport and social ritual on the other. Games of Property is a masterful contribution to understandings of Faulkner’s fiction and the power and scope of property law.