The Black American Short Story in the 20th Century

by Peter Bruck

  like Paulin e Attenborough , become s a self-made objet d'art; her

  stress merely o n the refining, cultivating, and sublimating functio n

  of ar t no t onl y separate s art fro m Ufe , but als o deprives it o f its'

  vitality and reduces it to a dead object .

  Mrs. Ellsworth' s attitude s contras t wit h Oceola' s characte r an d

  music. Havin g grow n u p i n th e musica l traditio n o f th e blac k

  church, Oceola' s lif e i s firml y roote d i n jaz z an d th e blues . Her

  music, which derives its strength from her cultural identity, distinct-

  ly set s he r apar t fro m Dor a Ellsworth , wh o conceive s o f ar t a s

  essentially classical . The evolvin g conflict thu s center s around the

  clash o f tw o antagonisti c mode s o f art , whic h ar e simultaneousl y

  representative o f tw o antagonistic modes of life. In contrast to her

  patroness' understandin g o f music , Oceol a ha s kep t a n origina l

  sense of it, one that "demanded movement and expression, dancing

  and livin g to g o with it." (111 ) As an initial, spontaneous expres-

  sion o f blac k life an d experience , th e blue s is devoid o f "classical

  runs o r fanc y falsities. " (110) Rather, it becomes, as Ralph Ellison

  once remarked, a form o f individual therapy:

  The blues is an impulse to keep the painful details and episodes of a brutal

  experience alive in one's aching consciousness, to finger its jagged grain,

  and to transcend it, not b y consolation o f philosophy but by squeezing

  from it a near-tragic, near-comic lyricism. As a form, the blues is an auto-

  biographical chronicl e o f persona l catastroph e expresse d lyrically .

  Oceola's music hence becomes not only an assertion and definitio n

  of he r identity; it als o links her, culturally , t o tha t chain of black

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  folklore tradition, which , as Ellison has pointed out , "announce d

  the Negro' s willingnes s t o trus t thi s ow n experience , hi s ow n

  sensibilities a s t o th e definitio n o f reality , rathe r tha n allo w hi s

  masters t o defin e thes e crucia l matter s fo r him." 28 Oceola' s

  "sheer lov e of jazz" (107) , her hatred o f "mos t artists,... and the

  word ar t i n French o r English, " (10 9 give s voic e t o a n attitud e

  which consider s musi c a manifestation o f a n experience d reality ,

  thus merging both art and life. Her contempt fo r a philosophy tha t

  separates thes e tw o arise s ou t o f he r prima l emphasi s o n th e

  affirmative an d virile nature of music:

  Oeceola's background was too well-grounded in Mobile, and Billy Kersand's

  Minstrels, and the Sanctifie d Churche s where religion was a joy, to stare

  mystically over the top of a grand piano like white folks and imagine that

  Beethoven had nothing to do with life, or that Schubert's love songs were

  only sublimations. (111)

  The "bipartit e structure" 28 o f thi s story , emphasizing two oppos-

  ing ethnic codes and philosophies of art, is also equally apparent in

  the differen t geographica l setting s o f th e various scenes. From the

  very beginnin g o f thei r relationship , th e Par k Avenu e patrones s

  tries t o alienat e Oceol a fro m Harlem : " I mus t ge t he r ou t o f

  Harlem a t once . I believe it's wors e tha n Chinatown. " (105 ) He r

  efforts finall y resul t i n Oceola' s moving to Greenwich Village, and

  then fo r tw o years ' stud y t o Paris . Th e effect s o f he r traini g in

  classical music ar e not, however, a s sublimating a s Mrs. Ellsworth

  had hoped . Returnin g fro m Paris , Oceol a i s determine d mor e

  firmly tha n eve r not t o giv e up the black musical tradition. This is

  especially show n i n he r decisio n t o mov e bac k t o Harlem : "I'v e

  been awa y fro m m y own people so long, I want to live right in the

  middle o f the m again. " (115 ) Thi s symboli c rediscover y o f he r

  heritage, induce d b y a sta y i n Paris , i s on e o f th e earlies t blac k

  reiterations o f th e Jamesia n pattern . Fo r i t i s i n Europ e tha t

  Oceola, t o paraphras e a titl e o f on e o f Jame s Baldwin' s essays ,

  makes the discovery of what it means to be black.

  The differen t setting s hence expres s metaphorically th e various

  stages o f thei r relationship. The symbolic confrontation o f Harlem

  with Greenwic h Villag e and Paris ultimately demonstrate s that th e

  conflict i s again dramatize d o n a personal a s well as cultural plane.

  Her retur n t o Harle m signal s th e attemp t t o preserv e he r blac k

  cultural identity . Significantl y enough , i t i s onl y afte r sh e ha s

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  accepted he r lover's proposal tha t Oceol a at a concert in a Harlem

  church suddenl y live s u p t o he r ow n musica l intention s b y "no t

  sticking t o th e classica l items listed o n th e program," for now she

  is able to "insert one of her own variations on the spirituals." (115)

  The inevitabl e separatio n o f Oceol a an d Mrs . Ellswort h take s

  place on e evenin g in th e patroness ' apartment , wher e Oceol a had

  come t o play for the last time "with the techniques for which Mrs.

  Ellsworth ha d paid. " (118 ) Again , th e conflic t i s described i n the

  contrasting image s tha t ar e representativ e o f th e tw o differen t

  cultural spheres . Dor a Ellsworth' s positio n i s almos t entirel y

  linked wit h exquisite , thoug h lifeles s antiqu e objects , evokin g the

  impression o f he r emotiona l sterilit y an d deadness . These objects,

  acting a s objectiv e correlative s o f he r emotiona l state , cannot b e

  reconciled wit h life . Th e vital , life-promisin g natur e o f Oceola' s

  music, whic h gre w "int o a n earth-throbbin g rhyth m tha t shoo k

  the lilie s i n th e Persia n vase s o f Mrs . Ellsworth' s musi c room, "

  (119) ultimatel y expose s he r limite d poin t o f vie w an d suggest s

  the final triumph, as it were, of black over white culture.

  Because o f he r limite d poin t o f view , Dora Ellswort h remain s

  unchanged. Eve n thoug h sh e i s dresse d a t th e en d i n th e sam e

  black velve t tha t Oceol a use d t o wear , Emanuel' s reading this as

  "a symboli c fusio n o f hersel f an d he r protegée" 30 seem s to be an

  unwarranted conjecture . Rather , th e story' s endin g call s fo r a

  reading whic h view s th e tw o unreconcile d position s a s a re-em -

  phasis o f "th e them e o f cultura l dualis m whic h i s basi c t o th e

  Harlem Renaissance"31 an d Hughes' position therein .

  Oceola's self-consciou s revol t agains t he r patroness , which ha s

  strong autobiographica l parallels, 32 underline s historicall y th e

  black's incipient ethni c assertion , hi s prid e i n hi s rac e an d th e

  rediscovery o f hi s cultura l heritage . Withi n thi s cultural context ,

  The Blues I'm Playing may b e considere d a twofold satire . One of

  its objectives , o f course , i s t o unmas k th e hypocris y o f whit e

  patronage. I n additio n t o this , th e philosoph y o f blac k cultura l

  elitism an d th e 'Ne w Negro ' seems to b e equally under attack. By

  refuting th e 'hig h culture ' o f th e Renaissanc e champions , Hughe s

  satirizes throug h hi s fictional characte r thos e attempt s t o bridg e

&n
bsp; the ga p between th e tw o race s by mean s o f art . Fo r thi s must, as

  he demonstrate s throug h Oceola , inevitably lea d t o servility and a

  loss o f blac k identity . I n contras t t o Emanuel' s genera l dictu m

  that "Hughe s as a writer canno t b e explained by references to the

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  Harlem Renaissance," 33 thi s particular short story echoes, both on

  the autobiographica l an d cultura l plane , historica l problems tha t

  were firml y roote d i n thi s period ; thu s Hughes ' delienatio n o f

  Oceola ma y ultimatel y b e conceived a s a fictional representatio n

  of hi s own literar y manifest o an d th e stor y a s a satirical reactio n

  to the Harlem Renaissance .

  Within the bulk of Hughes' sixty-six published short stories, The

  Blues I'm Playing hold s a uniqu e position . I n keepin g wit h

  Emanuel, wh o classifie d Hughes ' shor t fictio n thematically , thi s

  story turn s ou t t o b e his only genuine artist story. It marks one of

  Hughes' outstandin g achievement s i n thi s genr e an d establishe d

  him a s a serious writer of satirical short fiction. Most stories in the

  collection The Ways of White Folk ar e retrospective, looking back

  to th e 1920' s an d tryin g t o unvei l man y o f th e manifestation s o f

  the Harlem Renaissance . The date of publication, however, suggests

  a further significance . For the year 193 4 signals the end of Hughes'

  early phase . As Bone observed : "apar t fro m a flurry o f activity in

  1941, h e neve r mad e a sustained effor t i n th e genr e again . .. . In

  point o f fact , mos t o f Hughes ' significant productio n i n the short

  story for m fall s withi n th e chronologica l limit s o f th e Harle m

  Renaissance."34

  Despite favorabl e reviews , the firs t issu e o f The Ways of White

  Folk sol d onl y 250 0 copies. 35 Thi s meagr e succes s ma y b e ac -

  counted fo r no t onl y b y th e fac t tha t Hughe s had not yet gained,

  as h e wa s t o d o late r wit h hi s "Simpl e Tales, " a genuin e blac k

  reading audience; the commercial failure also seems to demonstrate

  that wit h th e en d o f th e Harle m Renaissanc e th e potentia l whit e

  audience n o longe r share d a large r enthusias m i n blac k literar y

  products. Fro m a historical and socio-literary perspective, however,

  the stories of The Ways of White Folk cause d a major breakthrough

  in pavin g th e wa y fo r a raciall y unrestricte d audience . B y re -

  examining th e black-whit e relationship s o f th e 1920' s an d b y

  unmasking th e falsenes s o f th e enthusias m o f white s for the 'New

  Negro,' Hughe s "clarifie d fo r th e Negr o audienc e thei r ow n

  strength an d dignit y an d .. . supplie d th e whit e audienc e wit h an

  explanation o f ho w th e Negr o feel s an d wha t h e wants." 36 Si x

  years after th e publicatio n o f thi s collection , Richar d Wright, in a

  review o f Hughes' autobiography The Big Sea, perhaps summed up

  the importanc e o f th e earl y work s o f Hughe s best . I n hi s eyes ,

  Hughes, o n accoun t o f hi s extensiv e publications , ha d serve d a s

  80

  a "cultural ambassador for the case of the blacks."

  NOTES

  1. Accordin g t o th e publishe r Alfre d A. Knopf, Van Vechten used to be his

  sole adviso r o n blac k literature . Cf . Alfre d A . Knopf , "Reminiscence s o f

  Hergesheimer, Va n Vechten and Mencken," Yale University Library Gazette,

  24 (April, 1950) , 150-157 .

  2. Donal d C. Dickinson, A Bio-Bibliography of Langston Hughes 1902-1967

  (Hamden, Conn., 1972) , p. 25.

  3. Natha n Irvi n Huggins , Harlem Renaissance (Oxford/Ne w York , 1971) ,

  p. 57.

  4. Alai n Locke, "The New Negro," in Abraham Chapman, ed.,Black Voices:

  An Anthology o f Afro-American Literature (Ne w York, 1968) , p. 523.

  5. Ibid.,p. 518 .

  6. Charle s S . Johnson , "Th e Negr o Renaissanc e an d it s Significance, " i n

  Rayford Loga n et.al, edd., The New Negro Thirty Years Afterward (Washing -

  ton, D.C., 1955), p. 83.

  7. Langsto n Hughes , "Th e Negr o Artis t an d th e Racia l Mountain, " The

  Nation (Jul y 23 , 1926) , reprinte d i n Joh n A . Williams , ed. , Amistad 1:

  Writings on Black History and Culture (New York, 1970) , p. 304.

  8. Langsto n Hughes, The Big Sea (New York, 1963) , pp. 267-268.

  9. Se e James A. Emanuel, "The Literary Experiments of Langston Hughes,"

  in Therma n B . O'Daniel , ed. , Langston Hughes Black Genius: A Critical

  Evaluation (New York, 1971) , 171-182 .

  10. Bernhar d Ostendorf , "Blac k Poetry , Blues , an d Folklore : Doubl e Con -

  sciousness i n Afro-America n Ora l Culture," Amerikastudien, 2 0 (1975), 250.

  11. Blyde n Jackson , " A Word about Simple, " in Therma n B . O'Daniel, ed. ,

  Langston Hughes Black Genius, p. 110.

  12. Langsto n Hughes , / Wonder As I Wander: An Autobiographical Journey

  (New York, 1956) , p. 5.

  13. Margare t Perry, Silence To The Drums: A Survey of the Literature of the

  Harlem Renaissance (Westport, Conn., 1976) , p. 45.

  14. Hughes , I Wonder As I Wander, p. 213.

  15. Rober t Bone , Down Home: A History of Afro-American Short Fiction

  from its Beginning to the End of the Harlem Renaissance (New York, 1975) ,

  p. 247.

  16. Thi s fac t i s reporte d b y Donal d C . Dickinson , A Bio-Bibliography of

  Langston Hughes, pp. 75-76.

  81

  17. Hughes, I Wonder As I Wander, p. 5.

  18. D.H. Lawrence, "Th e Lovel y Lady, " Love Among The Haystacks And

  Other Stories (Harmondsworth, 1960), p. 49.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Kingsle y Widmer, The Art o f Perversity: D.H. Lawrence's Shorter Fiction

  (Seattle, 1962), p. 96.

  21. Langsto n Hughes , "Th e Blue s I' m Playing, " The Ways of White Folk

  (New York , 1971) , pp. 96-97 (All page numbers in parenthesis refer t o this

  Vintage edition).

  22. Hughes , The Big Sea,p. 325.

  23. Perry , Silence To The Drums, p. 14.

  24. Bone, Down Home, p. 253.

  25. W.E.B . DuBois , "Va n Vechten' s 'Nigge r Heaven, ' " The Crisis (1926) ,

  reprinted i n Arthu r P . Davis an d Michae l W. Peplow, edd., The New Negro

  Renaissance: An Anthology (Ne w York, 1975) , p. 193 ; contemporary criti-

  cism has particularly been voiced by Addison Gayle, Jr., The Way Of The New

  World: The Black Novel In America (Garden City, 1976), pp. 104-110.

  26. A s Hughes recalls in his first autobiography: "In his novel Mr. Van Vechten

  presents man y o f th e problem s o f the Negroes of Harlem, and he writes of

  the people of culture as well as the people of the night clubs. He presents the

  problem o f a youn g Negr o novelis t face d wit h th e discrimination s o f th e

  white editorial offices. And he writes sympathetically and amusingly and well

  about a whole rainbow of life abov e 110t h street that had never before been

  put into the color of words." The Big Sea, p. 211.

  27. Ralp h Ellison, "Richard Wright's Blues," Shadow & Act (London , 1967),

  pp. 78-79.

  28. Ralp h Ellison , "Th e Ar t o f Fiction : A n Interview, " Shadow & Act,

  p. 172.

  29. Bone, Down Home, p. 253.

  30. Jame s A. Emanuel, Lang
ston Hughes (New York, 1967), p. 142.

  31. Bone , Down Home, p. 257.

  32. Beside s those already mentioned, note the incident where Hughes throws

  all his books into the sea, thus symbolically freein g himsel f fro m hi s 'white'

  past. The Big Sea, pp. 34.

  33. Emanuel , Langston Hughes, p. 30.

  34. Bone, Down Home, p. 256.

  35. Thi s figure i s give n b y Donal d C . Dickinson , A Bio-Bibliography of

  Langston Hughes, p. 130.

  36. Ibid., p . 115 .

  37. Richar d Wright, "Review of Th e Bi g Sea,'" New Republic, 53 (October

  28,1940), 600.

  82

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Short story collections:

  The Ways of White Folk. New York, 1934.

  Laughing to Keep From Crying. Ne w York, 1952.

  Something in Common and Other Stories. Ne w York, 1963.

  The mos t comprehensiv e informatio n o n Hughes ' primar y work s an d o n

  secondary sources devoted to him can be found in:

  Therman B . O'Daniel, "Langsto n Hughes: A Selected Classified Bibliog -

  raphy," i n O'Daniel , ed. , Langston Hughes Black Genius: A Critical

  Evaluation. Ne w York, 1971.

  Donald C. Dickinson, A Bio-Bibliography of Langston Hughes 1902-1967.

  Hamden, Conn., 1972.

  83

  Maureen Liston

  CHESTER HIMES

  A NIGGER

  (1937)

  Chester Himes is perhaps best known as the creator of Grave Digger

  and Coffin Ed . That he has also written and published short stories,

  a play , essays , novel s othe r tha n detective , an d a two-volum e

  autobiography i s littl e known , sav e t o Blac k writer s an d Blac k

  literature scholars . Durin g his writing career — whic h span s some

  forty-plus year s — Hime s has published "six major novels";1 som e

  twenty-two shor t stories in periodicals; a series of detective novels;

  essays o n a variet y o f subjects ; an d a collection includin g a fil m

  scenario a s wel l a s shor t storie s an d essays , som e o f whic h ha d

  been printe d earlie r i n Esquire, Coronet, Crisis, Opportunity an d

  Negro Study.

  Born 2 9 Jul y 190 9 in Jefferso n City , Missouri, Chester Himes

  was th e youngest o f thre e sons . His mother wa s an octoroon ; his

  father, Professo r Josep h Sand y Hime s — teache r a t th e Lincol n