by Peter Bruck
united b y thei r commo n interest in language. They had a common
objective i n tryin g t o rescu e speec h fro m th e mora l abstraction s
imposed on it by society. Ray despises the way in which his "gang"
200
can onl y relat e it s experience s socially : "Sociologists , artisti c
arbiters o f ou r times. " (p . 9 ) Th e black , however , canno t attai n
dignity or identit y simpl y by earning more. An improved standar d
of livin g doe s no t amoun t t o muc h fo r someon e lik e Baraka or
Olson, who do not wish to join the stampede to the supermarket.36
Baraka and Olso n see k a language tha t wil l once more express the
values o f th e huma n worl d a s reveale d b y ou r sens e but beyon d
this point the two friends parted company .
Although th e difference s betwee n th e cultura l expressio n o f
one rac e a s oppose d t o anothe r wer e clea r t o Olson , I d o no t
believe tha t wa s his principle interest . Olson, too, finally speak s a
different languag e tha n Baraka. He put th e contes t betwee n self -
expression an d societ y i n a broad context worth y o f a student o f
Herman Melville . Olso n an d Melvill e ar e fascinate d b y Truth ,
(which bot h writer s are in th e habi t o f capitalizing). If language is
again t o hav e th e energ y t o connec t ma n t o th e rea l world , the n
man free d fro m th e socia l lies will reenter the cosmos and find his
lost identit y there . Thi s i s th e fina l messag e o f th e "Lette r t o
Elaine Feinstein: "
Wahrheit: I find the contemporary substitutio n of society for the cosmos,
captive and deathly. Image, therefore, is vector.
Olson, despit e th e similarities, is finally different . Baraka's need to
find a n expressiv e languag e fo r blac k literatur e was , if anything ,
far mor e urgen t t o hi m tha n Olson' s concerns . I n Baraka's eyes,
black fictio n ha d bee n writte n i n Americ a fro m almos t the begin-
ning in th e whit e man' s code . Baraka borrowed hastily , but intel-
ligently fro m Olson , but th e resul t wa s not the same. Olson might
talk hip , bu t finall y hi s vernacula r wit h it s borrowings fro m th e
speech o f black s belonge d b y right t o Baraka. It woul d b e a n
advantage that Baraka would make use of .
201
NOTES
1. I n Baraka's, "The Myt h o f a Negro Literature, " Home: Social Essays
(New York, 1966), pp. 107-108.
2. Home, p. 105.
3. Thes e problems of the black middle-class had been discussed in much the
same term s b y E . Frankli n Frazier , Black Bourgeoisie (New York , 1957) .
Baraka clearly kne w thi s boo k well, and my assumptions here on the black
middle-class are based on Frazier.
4. B y placing his life unde r titles derived from th e white man's literature,
Baraka focuses the problem of interpreting black experience in terms drawn
from whit e society values. Again Frazier's account of the middle-class rush to
acquire wealth, the strange alliance of philanthropy and capitalism, illuminate
the structura l principle s o f Baraka's work. Black Bourgeoisie, pp . 30-59 ,
pp. 65-78.
5. Thi s quotatio n come s fro m Baraka's story, "Th e Screamers, " in Tales
(New York , 1967) , p. 75 . All subsequen t reference s t o these stories in the
text will be taken from this edition. An able discussion of this writing and the
social irrelevanve of "middle-brow " writing is to be found in Werner Sollors,
"Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), "The Screamers," in Die Amerikanische Short
Story der Gegenwart, ed. by Peter Freese (Berlin, 1976), pp. 270-279.
6. Home, pp. 68-81.
7. Theodor e R . Hudson, From LeRoi Jones to Amiri Baraka: The Literary
Works (Durham, North Carolina, 1973), p. 5.
8. Ibid., p . 10 .
9. Black Music (New York, 1968), p. 12.
10. From LeRoi Jones to Amiri Baraka, pp. 14-15.
11. Th e first jaz z review s Baraka wrote appea r t o dat e fro m 1959 . Fo r a
detailed accoun t o f Baraka's published work see, Letitia Dace, LeRoi Jones
(Imamu Amiri Baraka): A Checklist of Works By and About Him (London,
1971).
12. A System of Dante's Inferno wa s later retitled The System of Dante's
Hell (1965) . M y quotatio n come s fro m a late r edition , Three Books by
Imamu Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) (New York, 1975), p. 11.
13. "Ho w You Sound??" The New American Poetry, ed. by Donald M. Allen
(New York , 1960) , pp . 424425 . Olson' s essay s were als o reprinte d here ,
"Projective Verse, " pp. 386-397 an d "Letter to Elaine Feinstein" pp . 397-
400. An alternative editio n with a useful introduction to Olson's work can be
found i n Selected Writings of Charles Olson, ed. b y Rober t Creele y (Ne w
York, 1966).
14. Se e my forthcoming article, "The Maximus Poems': a Phenomenological
Approach" in The Dutch Quarterly Review.
15. New American Poetry, p. 424,425.
202
16. New American Story, ed. by Donald M. Allen and Robert Creel y (New
York, 1965), pp. 267-268.
17. Home, p . 182.
18. Alber t Camus , L'Envers et VEndroit (Algiers , 1937; reprint ed . 1958).
This book which contains the essay, "Entre Qui et Non," was to my know-
ledge not translated in America until 1968.
19. Home, p. 169.
20. Donal d Jazez, The Unique Creation of Albert Camus (New Haven, Conn.,
1973), p . 149 . Jaze z point s ou t tha t Sartre , whom Baraka respects, called
Camus an intellectual bourgeois rebel on this account.
21. Home, p. 182.
22. Olso n i s carrying th e Pound-William s defence o f American vernacular a
stage further here . Olson remarks of oral language as follows in the "Letter to
Elaine Feinstein":
The only advantage of speech rhythms (to take your 2nd question 1st) is
illiterary: th e non-literary , exactl y i n Dante' s sens e of the value of the
vernacular ove r gramma r - tha t speec h as a communicator prio r to the
individual and picked up as soon as and with ma's milk ... he said nurse's
tit.
Selected Writings of Charles Olson, p. 27.
23. Ibid., p . 29.
24. Thu s Baraka looks for a language prior to logic. He seeks a naming that
will retain force. The danger of naming as we find it in western culture is that
language ha s lost thi s ability: "Th e naming, nominalization , of that forc e is
finally a step at making it artificial." Home, p. 173 . Compare Olson's "You
would know already I' m buggy on say the Proper Noun," from the Feinstein
letter, Selected Writings, p . 29 . I f Baraka sounds mor e articulate , tha t i s
because he is writing down what Olso n was saying as I know from attending
Olson's classe s a t th e Stat e Universit y o f Ne w York, Buffalo , 1963-1965 .
Baraka's essay, quoted above , was entitled "Huntin g is Not Thos e Heads on
the Wall," and was published in 1964.
25. Selected Writings, p . 30. Olson's joking manner may conceal his meaning
which i s essentially tha t th e vernacula r i s a language that bot h spiritualizes
and makes alive the world we live in.
26. Olson , loc. cit.
27. Melville' s Pier
re wa s also admired by Allen Ginsber g and other members
of the former Greenwich Village Group.
28. Pierre: or the Ambiguities (1852) . Pierre' s first mora l convention s i n
which h e wa s brought up . When Pierr e reads in his Dante, this false clarity
disappears.
29. Th e Tales, too , contai n a long attack on the Puritan inheritance of the
whites: "N o on e woul d thin k o f the m a s beautifu l bu t thes e mysteriou s
scions of the puritans." (pp. 44-45)
203
30. Home, p. 222.
31. Selected Writings, p. 56.
32. "Fo r me, Lorca, Williams, Pound and Charles Olson have had the greatest
influence." New American Poetry, p. 425.
33. The Maximus Poems (London, 1968), p. 56. The best guide to the poems
and the one I used here is George F. Butterick's, An Annotated Guide to the
Maximus Poems of Charles Olson (Ph.D. dissertation, State University of New
York at Buffalo, 1971) , pp. 52-53.
34. I am assumin g that Baraka's reference her e is to Pound. By post-Pound
era I simply mea n tha t Olso n and Baraka acknowledge thei r debt to Pound
and try to develop his ideas.
35. Selected Writings, p . 29 . Olso n himsel f ha s borrowe d th e ter m fro m
Whitehead who used it t o describe the kind of energy transferred by feelings:
"The experience has a vector character, a common measure of intensity, and
specific form s of feelings conveying that intensity," Alfred North Whitehead,
Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology (Ne w York, 1929 ; reprint ed. ,
New York, 1960), p. 177.
36. M y paraphras e o f Olson' s wa y o f referrin g t o th e value s expresse d i n
"social" language . Baraka, of course , ofte n echoe s th e jibe. See , Selected
Writings, p.47'.
37. Selected Writings, p. 29.
204
Peter Bruck
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. BLACK AMERICAN SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS 1898-197 7
1898: Pau l Laurence Dunbar, Folks From Dixie.
1899: Charle s W. Chesnutt, The Conjure Woman.
Charles W. Chesnutt, The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the
Color Line.
1900: Pau l Laurence Dunbar, The Strength of Gideon.
1903: Pau l Laurence Dunbar, In Old Plantation Days.
1904: Pau l Laurence Dunbar, The Heart of Happy Hollow.
1906: Georg e M. McClellan, Old Greenbottom Inn and Other Stories.
1907: Jame s E. McGirt, The Triumphs of Ephraim.
1912: Josep h Cotter, Negro Tales.
1920: Fento n Johnson, Tales of Darkest America.
1922: Willia m Pickens, The Vengeance of the Gods.
1923: Jea n Toomer, Cane.
1926: Eri c Walrond, Tropic Death.
1932: Claud e McKay, Gingertown.
1934: Langsto n Hughes, The Ways of White Folk.
1937: Le w Patton, Did Adam Sin and Other Stories.
1938: Richar d Wright, Uncle's Tom's Children.
1952: Langsto n Hughes, Laughing to Keep From Crying.
1953: Joh n Wesley Groves, Phyrrhic Victory.
1959: Alsto n Anderson, Lover Man.
Harold Fenderson, The Phony and Other Stories.
Roy L. Hill, Two Ways and Other Stories.
1961: Wil l A. Madden, Two and One.
Paule Marshall, Soul Clap Hands and Sing.
Richard Wright, Eight Men.
1962: Theodosi a B. Skinner, Ice Cream from Heaven.
1963: Langsto n Hughes, Something in Common and Other Stories.
Will A. Madden, Five More Short Stories.
Sadie L. Roberson, Killer of the Dream.
1964: Willia m Melvin Kelley, Dancers on the Shore.
1965: Jame s Baldwin, Going to Meet the Man.
Georgia McKinley, The Mighty Distance.
1967: LeRo i Jones, Tales.
1968: Ernes t J. Gaines, Bloodline.
205
1969: James Alan McPherson, Hue and Cry.
1970: Cyru s Colter, The Beach Umbrella.
Henry Dumas, Ark of Bones and Other Stones.
1971: E d Bullins, The Hungered Ones.
Horace Mungin, How Many Niggers Make Haif a Dozen.
Ann Petry, Miss Muriel and Other Stories
1972: Toni Cade Bambera, Gorilla, My Love.
1973: Arn a Bontemps, The Old South. 'A Summer Tragedy' and Other
Stories of the Thirties.
Chester Himes, Black on Black: Baby Sister and Selected Writings.
Alice Walker, Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women.
1974: Sylvi a Lyons Render, ed., The Short Fiction of Charles W. Chesnutt.
1975: Clifto n Bullock, Baby Chocolate and Other Short Stories.
1977: Ha l Bennett, Insanity Runs In Our Family.
II. MAJOR ANTHOLOGIES
Adams, William et al. , edd. Afro-American Literature: Fiction. Boston , 1970.
Adoff, Arnold, ed. Brothers and Sisters: Modern Stories by Black Americans.
New York, 1970
Brown, Sterling A. et al. , edd. The Negro Caravan. Ne w York, rpt., 1969.
Chapman, Abraham , ed . Black Voices: An Anthology of Afro-American
Literature. Ne w York, 1968.
— New Black Voices: An Anthology of Contemporary Afro-American Lit-
erature. Ne w York, 1972.
Clarke, John Henrik, ed. American Negro Short Stories. New York, 1966.
— Harlem: Voices from the Soul of Black America. Ne w York, 1970.
Coombs, Orde, ed. What We Must See: Young Black Storytellers. Ne w York,
1971.
Davis, Arthu r P. , an d Saunder s Redding , edd. Calvacade: Negro American
Writing from 1760 to the Present. Boston , 1971.
Emanuel, Jame s A. , an d Theodor e Gross, edd. Dark Symphony: Negro Lit-
erature in America. New York, 1968.
Ford, Nick Aaron , ed. Best Short Stories by Afro-American Writers 1925-
1950. Boston, 1950.
Gibson, Donal d B. , and Caro l Anselment , edd. Black and White: Stories of
American Life. New York, 1971.
Hughes, Langston, ed. The Best Stories by Negro Writers: An Anthology from
1899 to the Present. Boston , 1971.
James, Charles L., ed. From the Roots: Short Stories by Black Americans.
New York, 1970.
Kearns, Francis E., ed. The Black Experience. New York, 1970.
King, Woodie, ed. Black Short Story Anthology. New York, 1972.
206
Kissin, Eva, ed. Stories in Black and White. New York, 1970.
Locke, Alain, ed. The New Negro. New York, rpt. 1974.
Margolies, Edward, ed. A Native Sons Reader. Philadelphia, 1970.
May field, Julian, ed . Ten Times Black: Stories from the Black Experience.
New York, 1972.
Mirer, Martin, ed. Modern Black Stories. Woodbury , N.Y., 1971.
Sanchez, Sonia , ed . We Be Word Sorcerers: 25 Stories by Black Americans.
New York, 1973.
Turner, Darwin T., ed. Black American Literature: Fiction. Columbus, 1969.
Washington, Mary Helen, ed. Black-Eyed Susans: Classic Stories By and About
Black Women. Garde n City, 1975.
III. MAJOR SECONDARY SOURCES ON THE BLACK SHORT STORY
Bone, Robert. Down Home: A History of Afro-American Short Fiction from
Its Beginning to the End of the Harlem Renaissance. Ne w York, 1975.
(discusses among others Dunbar, Chesnutt, Toomer, Hughes, and Wal-
rond)
Freese, Peter, ed. Die amerikanische Short Story der Gegenwart. Berlin, 1976.
(contains article s o n shor t storie s b y Wright , Ellison , Baldwin , an d
LeR
oi Jones)
Peden, William . The American Short Story: Continuity and Change 1940-
1975. Boston, 1975.
(contains a survey chapter on the black short story since 1940)
Perry, Margaret. Silence to the Drums: A Survey of the Literature of the Har-
lem Renaissance. Westport, Ct., 1976.
(contains a chapter on the short fiction of the Harlem Renaissance)
207
CONTRIBUTORS
Dr. Peter Bruck , Englische s Seminar , Pädagogische Hochschule, Scharnhorst -
strasse 100 , D-4400 Münster.
Prof. Dr . Peter Freese , Englisches Seminar, Pädagogische Hochschule, Scharn-
horststrasse 100 , D-4400 Münster.
Prof. Dr . Davi d Galloway, Englisches Seminar, Ruhr-Universitat, Universitats-
strasse 150 , D-4630 Bochum.
Dr. Udo Jung, Englisches Seminar, Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Olshausen-
strasse 40-60, D-2300 Kiel.
Prof. Dr . Wolfgang Karrer, Fachbereich VII, Anglistik, Universität Osnabrück,
Neuer Graben/Schloss, D-4500 Osnabrück.
Maureen Liston, Englisches Seminar, Ruhr-Universitat, Universitätsstrasse 150,
D-4630 Bochum.
Dr. Barbara Puschmann-Nalenz, Englisches Seminar, Ruhr-Universitat, Univer-
sitatsstrasse 150 , D-4630 Bochum.
Dr. Will i Real , Englische s Seminar , Pádagogische Hochschule, Scharnhorst -
strasse 100 , D-4400 Münster.
Dr. Hartmut K. Selke, Feldstrasse 131 , D-2300 Kiel.
Dr. John Wakefield, Englische s Seminar , Ruhr-Universität, Universitätsstrasse
150, D-4630 Bochum.
209
Document Outline
THE BLACK AMERICAN SHORT STORY IN THE 20TH CENTURY
Title page
Copyright page
Table of contents
PREFACE
BLACK AMERICAN SHORT FICTION IN THE 20TH CENTURY Problems of Audience, and the Evolution of Artistic Stances and Themes NOTES
CHARLES WADDELL CHESNUTT THE SHERIFF'S CHILDREN (1889) NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE SCAPEGOAT (1904) NOTES
JEAN TOOMER FERN (1922) NOTES
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
LANGSTON HUGHES THE BLUES I'M PLAYING(1934) NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CHESTER HIMES A NIGGER (1937) NOTES
