All passing narratives are inherently subversive. Racial stereotypes are transgressed, social conventions are contravened, and the racial status quo is attacked when characters who are "seen" as being "white" but who are deemed "black" by a fiction of law and custom are shown to be just as capable, talented, and intelligent as members of the dominant society. When irreverence, ridicule, and irony are added to passing tales with acid-tipped pens, authors' assaults on racial discrimination, slavery, one-drop rules, and racial identity laws are heightened.

This dissertation analyzes selected passing novels and stories written in a satirical style and argues that these works are doubly subversive. Mark Twain's The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson, Wallace Thurman's Infants of the Spring, George S. Schuyler's Black No More, and Sinclair Lewis's Kingsblood Royal are among those examined. The inclusion of contemporary reviews, critiques, essays, and scientific works about race in addition to judicial rulings and accounts of real-life passing provides a glimpse into the historical, political, social, and legal context in which these various fictional works were created. Novels of passing written in a more traditional stylistic manner are juxtaposed against the derisive and mocking ones to demonstrate how truly subversive the latter are.

The production of passing novels has dropped steadily from their heyday in the early twentieth century. Authors—whether black or white—no longer need to use this theme as a safe way to address racial issues. But, it is hoped that this examination of satirical, subversive passing narratives will not only increase our knowledge of America's ongoing, and seemingly endless, preoccupation with race but also bring these audacious, laugh-out-loud, iconoclastic--but also deadly serious—narratives to the attention of readers once again.