The Black American Short Story in the 20th Century
Page 17
Again, i n I X unde r th e biblica l phrasin g o f Taylor' s regaine d con -
105
sciousness, there arise s a tiny inne r voice tha t grow s stronger an d
stronger as the fire sinks in:
It seeme d h e coul d hea r a tiny, faraway soun d whispering over and over
like a voice in an empty room: Ah got fever ... His back rested on a bed of
fire, the imprint of leaves and grass searing him with a scalding persistence.
... The voice whispered again, this time louder: Ah gotta git home ...
Thought ha s no w becom e interiorize d blac k speech , beyond th e
control o f thos e convention s tha t regulate d Taylor' s speec h an d
thought s o far. Hi s struggle t o find th e right words for Jimmy and
the people leads to a new freedom o f speech.
If w e identif y th e narrato r wit h th e descriptiv e part s o f th e
story (B) , the perspectiv e an d th e final fram e o f reference fo r the
reader woul d b e white. The descriptive language is closer to Mayor
Bolton's speec h tha n t o Reveren d Taylor's . But the perspective of
the stor y arise s from th e interplay (corroboratio n o r denial) of the
three element s and her e blac k speec h and collective song not only
outweigh S E description an d triump h ove r contaminated though t
but ar e also born out by the descriptive parts, while Taylor's white
thought i s refuted b y the description of his real situation. In other
words, Taylor' s speec h an d though t hav e t o b e measured agains t
the descriptio n o f hi s rea l situation , an d her e hi s white though t
fails. Anticipating the problem of dual consciousness in Native Son
the stor y deal s with it s own aestheti c problem : th e adaptatio n of
white though t to black consciousness. The black preacher — long a
symbol fo r Uncl e Tomism 13 — has free d himsel f fro m subtle r
chains tha n thos e o f slavery . An d wit h hi m th e intende d blac k
audience is supposed to undergo the same purification b y fire.
The contrast s i n languag e an d perspectiv e finally poin t t o th e
underlying clas s conflic t i n thi s anonymou s Souther n tow n o f
15,000 whites and 10,00 0 blacks. The analysis of "the skeleton of
society" i s clearly Marxis t wit h a Popular Fron t touch . Black and
white ar e segregated, the Chambe r o f Commerce, that is, the local
capitalists, use the Mayor and th e polic e t o kee p contro l ove r th e
labor forc e withou t lan d (unuse d becaus e o f agricultura l overpro -
duction) an d withou t foo d (denie d b y th e loca l relief program) .
The coexistenc e o f unused lan d an d starvin g people i s an obvious
image o f th e contradiction s o f capitalism . I n th e pas t th e Mayo r
has used the black leader Taylor against his own people with bribes
of small favors. This corruption of the black middle class is analyzed
106
in th e sam e settin g i n Wright' s nove l The Long Dream (1958) .
Racist violenc e an d th e Industria l Squa d sho w th e fascis t poten -
tialities o f capitalis t rule . Only a popular front o f black and white
people, a coalitio n o f democrati c consultatio n an d communis t
organization will be able to stop fascism. Not the individual speech
of th e leade r bu t th e collectiv e singin g and marchin g unites white
and black: "Ain nobody leadin us nowhere." (XIII),
In 194 2 Wright calle d Uncle Tom's Children "an awfull y naiv e
mistake": " I foun d I ha d writte n a boo k whic h eve n bankers '
daughters coul d rea d an d wee p ove r and fee l goo d about." 14 Th e
reviews had show n Wrigh t tha t this study of the gradual liberation
from Uncl e To m mentalit y ha d faile d t o reach the black audience
aimed at in the Blueprint an d had been understood by a dominantly
white audienc e a s a seque l t o th e melodramati c convention s o f
Harriet Beeche r Stowe' s social criticism. Not the development of a
new socialis t consciousnes s i n blacks , bu t th e pligh t o f poo r
Southern blacks , no t th e speec h o r though t bu t th e descriptio n
formed th e fina l fram e o f reference fo r th e contemporar y reader .
Wright too k th e blam e fo r thi s and wrot e Native Son deliberatel y
to shoc k a white audienc e into a new response : th e killing of one
of th e sentimenta l "bankers ' daughters " cu t of f an y stereotype d
response o f pit y fo r Bigge r Thomas. Wright abandone d hi s aim to
write fo r a black audienc e roote d in church and folklore. Here lay
a real problem fo r a writer lik e Wright, as Sterling Brown pointed
out.15 No t man y black s rea d book s i n th e 30's , th e numbe r o f
college educate d black s wa s hardl y th e audienc e aime d a t i n th e
Blueprint, an d th e proble m o f winnin g blacks for th e revolutio n
was far more difficult tha n Wright had thought.
If th e mai n dilemm a for the black writer in the 30's was finding
his audience , par t o f th e proble m la y als o i n th e acceptanc e o f
realist conventions . Thoug h keenl y awar e o f th e ora l characte r of
black cultur e an d givin g black speec h a dominant positio n in Fire
and Cloud, Wright limit s it s us e mainl y t o th e accepte d slot s of
speech an d interio r monologu e an d retain s th e conventiona l de -
scriptive framewor k i n SE . Though th e typographica l innovation s
bring the stor y close r t o th e rea l speech o f blac k people, Wright's
transposition o f proletaria n realis m i n th e Blueprint an d i n Fire
and Cloud left S E and boo k convention s intact . It would take an-
other audience and another generation of writers like Ishmael Reed
or Soni a Sanche z t o fre e blac k speec h fro m th e constraints of the
107
realistic convention s tha t Wrigh t accepted .
As an y eve n cursor y glanc e at a n antholog y shows 16 revolution ,
rebellion, defea t o r victor y o f th e blac k caus e wer e t o remai n
standard ingredient s o f th e blac k shor t story . S o wa s th e realisti c
model o f Wright' s fiction . Wit h the m remaine d th e problemati c
role o f th e blac k preache r a s Uncl e To m o r a s a revolutionar y
leader fo r blacks . Though th e lynchings tha t figur e s o prominentl y
in Uncle Tom's Children ar e largel y a thin g o f th e past, life is still
dangerous fo r blac k leaders . I n recen t year s th e novel s b y Ralp h
Ellison, Jame s Baldwin , an d William Melvi n Kelle y have dealt wit h
this proble m an d Joh n A . William' s The Man who cried I am
analyzes th e murde r o f Malcol m X i n 196 5 ver y muc h alon g th e
lines of Fire and Cloud.
According t o document s mad e availabl e i n 197 6 Martin Luthe r
King, before hi s assassination i n 1967 , was harassed by the FBI with
tapes o f bedroo m conversation s and anonymou s letters askin g him
to commi t suicide . Thi s harassmen t wa s par t o f a secre t counte r
intelligence progra m (COINTELPRO ) t o disrup t liberal , left , an d
black group s b y infiltratio n an d t o discredi t o r intimidat e thei r
leaders.17 Reveren d Taylor' s problem s ar e fa r fro m bein g a thin g
of th e past .
NOTES
1. Th e standard biography is Michel Fabre, The Unfinished Quest of Richard
Wright (New York, 1973).
2. Harpe r republished th e collection a s a paperback in 1965 and since kept
it in print. The renewed interest in Uncle Tom's Children is closely connected
with the political events of the 60's.
3. Danie l Aaron, "Richard Wright and the Communist Party," New Letters,
38 (Winter 1971), 170-81.
4. Walte r Rideout , The Radical Novel in the United States 1900-1954:
Some Interrelations of Literature and Society, repr. (New York, 1966), 144ff.
5. I n Daniel Aaron, Writers on the Left, repr. (New York, 1969), 225 f.
6. The New Challenge (Fal l 1937) , 53-65. The numbering of arguments is
mine.
7. Thi s and the next Wright quote come from Richard Wright, "How 'Uncle
Tom's Children ' Grew, " The Writers Club Bulletin [Columbi a University ]
(May 1938), 16; 17 f.
108
8. James R . Giles, "Richar d Wright' s Successfu l Failure : A New Loo k a t
Uncle Tom's Children'' Phylon, 34 (1973), 266. Compare Edward Margolies,
The Art of Richard Wright (Carbondale, 111. , 1969), 61-70. For the stylistic
influences o f th e Hemingwa y stories see Edwin Berr y Burgum, "The Art of
Richard Wright' s Shor t Stories, " Quarterly Review of Literature, 1 (1944),
200 ff .
9. Rideout , 171 ff. and 223.
10. Fo r instance Margolies, 68.
11. Complication s aris e i n som e narrative s wit h variou s indirec t form s o f
reporting speech and thought. In Fire and Cloud every sentence can be coded
without difficulty . Fo r the whole problem see Boris A. Uspemkij, Poetik der
Komposition, transl. G. Mayer (Frankfurt, 1975) .
12. Campbel l Tatham, "Vision and Value in Uncle Tom's Children," Studies
in Black Literature, 3 (1972), 19-2 1 misreads this structure an d distorts the
story to an individualist interpretation . Tatha m calls Taylors ideas about the
people phony and makes Jimmy the true hero of the story.
13. Ronn y E . Turner , "Th e Blac k Minister : Uncl e To m o r Abolitionist, "
Phylon 34, (1973), 86-95.
14. Richar d Wright , "Ho w 'Bigger ' wa s Born, " i n Native Son, repr . (Ne w
York, 1973), xxvii.
15. "Th e Negr o Autho r an d Hi s Publisher, " Negro Quarterly,! (1942) ,
16 ff.: "W e should expect the potential Negro book-buying audience to come
largely fro m th e rank s o f colleg e graduates . I n th e hundre d year s between
1826 an d 193 6 ther e were , accordin g t o Charle s S . Johnson, onl y 43,82 1
college graduates, of whom 18,918 are living. Three thousand more graduates
could b e expecte d i n 1940 , accordin g t o thi s authorit y .. . Th e numbe r o f
those who buy books about Negro life by Negro authors is certainly low."
16. I checke d Langsto n Hughes ' (ed.) , The Best Short Stories by Negro
Writers: An Anthology from 1899 to the Present (Boston, 1967) : out of 35
short storie s publishe d afte r 1940 , 5 dea l wit h revolt , 3 wit h defea t afte r
revolt, 7 with conversion of some kind and 13 with violence or death.
17. Davi d Wise, "The Campaign to Destroy Martin Luther King," New York
Review of Books (Nov . 11 , 1976), 384 2 a n excerpt fro m Davi d Wise, The
American Police State (New York, 1976).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Wright is the author of the following works of fiction:
Uncle Tom's Children. Ne w York, 1938.
Native Son. New York, 1940.
Black Boy. New York, 1945.
The Outsider. New York, 1953.
109
Savage Holiday. Ne w York, 1954.
The Long Dream. Ne w York, 1958.
Eight Men. Cleveland, 1961.
Lawd Today. New York, 1963.
American Hunger, New York, 1977.
Nonfiction works:
12 Million Black Voices: Folk History of the Negro in the United States.
New York, 1941.
Black Power. New York, 1954.
The Color Curtain. Cleveland, 1956.
Pagan Spain. New York, 1957.
Information on secondary sources:
Russel C. Brignano, "Richard Wright: A Bibliography of Secondary Sources,'
Studies in Black Literature, 2 (Summer, 1971), 19-25.
Theresa Gunnels Rush et al., Black American Writers Past and Present: A
Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary. 2 vols. (New York, 1975) ,
11,786-91.
Willi Real, "Richard Wright," in Peter Bruck , et al, Der moderne Roman
des amerikanischen Negers (Darmstadt, 1977, in print).
110
Willi Real
RALPH ELLISON
KING OF THE BINGO GAME
(1944)
It is not uncommo n t o regar d shor t storie s as precursors o f mor e
comprehensive fictional work s or eve n merely a s by-products of a
novelist's career. This view seems to be confirmed by some of Ralph
Ellison's piece s o f shor t fiction . Hi s first story , "Slic k Gonn a
Learn," i s a n excerp t fro m a n unpublishe d novel, 1 th e famou s
"Battle Royal, " firs t chapte r o f Ellison's novel Invisible Man, goes
back t o a n earlie r shor t stor y o f tha t name, 2 an d hi s storie s
"Flying Home " an d "Kin g o f th e Bing o Game" are said t o anti -
cipate major themes of Invisible Man as well.3 Ye t it is still difficult
if no t impossibl e t o sa y whethe r Elliso n wil l be remembered a s a
novelist o r a s a novelis t and a shor t stor y writer . Invisible Man
(1952) whic h ha s s o fa r bee n Ellison' s onl y fictiona l full-lengt h
work, i s definitel y th e boo k whic h wo n hi m fame. 4 Th e inter -
preters o f thi s novel ar e legion,5 wherea s his short stories have up
to no w receive d littl e critica l attention. 6 Ellison' s oeuvre as it is
now befor e us , is surprisingly smal l fo r a n autho r havin g attaine d
65 years of age. In an interview held by Allen Geiler, Ellison calling
himself "a highly conscious writer,"7 pointe d out: "I have a certain
distrust o f th e eas y flo w o f word s and I have to pu t i t asid e and
wait."8 Perhap s the small scope of his work can also at least partly
be explaine d b y th e fac t tha t originall y Ellison' s musical interes t
prevailed ove r hi s literar y one s and tha t he , instead o f becomin g
a writer , woul d hav e preferre d t o b e a musician, an d despit e hi s
predilection for jazz, a symphony composer. 9
Ellison wa s bor n i n Oklahom a Cit y o n th e firs t o f March , 1914 ,
where he als o grew up.10 Hi s father die d whe n he was three years
old. Oklahom a ha d onl y joine d th e Unio n i n 190 7 s o tha t thi s
Southern stat e ha d n o traditio n o f slaver y which meant that caste
lines wer e no t s o rigidly drawn a s in othe r part s o f th e South. 11
In spit e o f th e comparativel y favourabl e socia l climat e there ,
Ellison ha d t o atten d th e usua l segregate d schools, 12 bu t i t mus t
111
be said tha t he was able to develop his interest in music at an early
age. Fro m 193 3 t o 193 6 h e attende d Tuskege e Institut e i n Ala-
bama, studyin g compositio n unde r Willia m Dawso n who , i n
Ellison's ow n words , wa s "th e greates t classica l musician i n tha t
part o f th e country." 13 I n 193 7 h e move d t o Ne w Yor k
Cit y
where i n th e sam e year he met Richar d Wrigh t wh o was soon t o
publish hi s first collectio n o f shor t stories , i.e. Uncle Tom's Chil-
dren (cf . chapte r V I o f thi s book) . I t wa s Wrigh t unde r whos e
guidance an d encouragemen t Elliso n starte d hi s ow n literar y
career.14 Thoug h Elliso n wa s fascinated b y Wright' s ope n manner
in whic h he discusse d th e problems o f writing, 15 h e never lost his
strong sens e o f individuality. 16 Accordin g t o hi s own testimony ,
he gave up Wright's way o f writin g as early a s 1940 : "B y 1940, 1
was no t showin g Mr . Wrigh t an y o f m y writin g becaus e b y tha t
time I understood tha t ou r sensibilities wer e quite different ; an d
what I wa s hopin g t o achiev e in fictio n wa s something quit e dif -
ferent fro m wha t h e wante d t o achieve." 17 Thi s was not the only
time tha t Elliso n objecte d t o being called dependent on Wright. In
the famou s controvers y betwee n Baldwi n an d Wrigh t concernin g
the possibilitie s o f protes t literature , h e refuse d t o acknowledg e
Wright a s hi s "spiritua l father." 18 O n th e othe r han d Elliso n
repeatedly emphasize d th e importance o f literar y tradition for his
own work. 19 Amon g hi s favourit e author s wer e Malraux, Dosto-
evsky, T.S . Eliot , Joyce , Faulkne r an d especiall y Hemingway .
Calling Hemingway hi s "true father-as-artist Elliso n stated: " I read
him to learn his sentence structure and how to organize a story."20
Within a fe w year s Elliso n ha d severa l short storie s published .
His firs t two , "Slic k Gonn a Learn " (1939 ) an d "Th e Birthmark "
(1940), were written i n th e protest traditio n and stay close to the
level o f litera l realism. 21 The n followe d a serie s o f thre e storie s
featuring th e tw o boy s Buste r an d Riley , namel y "Afternoon "
(1941), "Miste r Toussaint " (1941 ) an d "Tha t I Ha d th e Wings"
(1943). Thes e ar e characterize d b y over t conflic t betwee n th e
generations becaus e it s youthfu l character s an d th e adult s tak e
different attitude s toward s th e whit e world. 22 Thre e more stories
were published i n 1944 : "In a Strange Country," Flying Home"23
and "Kin g of th e Bing o Game," al l o f the m wer e cause d by war-