The Complete Stories of Paul Laurence Dunbar

by Jarrett, Gene Andrew; Morgan, Thomas Lewis; Fishkin, Shelley Fisher; Dunbar, Paul Laurence

• ISBN13: 9780821416440
• ISBN10: 0821416448
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-02-09
• Publisher: Ohio Univ Pr

Summary

The son of former slaves, Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the most prominent and publicly recognized figures in American literature at the turn of the twentieth century. Thirty-three years old at the time of his death in 1906, he had published four novels, four collections of short stories, and fourteen books of poetry, not to mention numerous songs, plays, and essays in newspapers and magazines around the world. In the century following his death, Dunbar slipped into relative obscurity, remembered mainly for his dialect poetry or as a footnote to other more canonical figures from the period. The Complete Stories of Paul Laurence Dunbar showcases his gifts as a writer of short fiction and provides key insights into the tensions and themes of Dunbar's literary achievement. Through examining the 104 stories written by Dunbar between 1890 and 1905, readers will be able to better understand Dunbar's specific attempts to maintain his artistic integrity while struggling with America's racist stereotypes. His work interrogated the color-line that informed American life and dictated his role as an artist in American letters. Editors Gene Jarrett and Thomas Morgan identify major themes and implications in Dunbar's work. Available in one convenient, comprehensive, and definitive volume for the first time, The Complete Stories of Paul Laurence Dunbar illustrates the complexity of his literary life and legacy. ABOUT THE EDITORS---Gene Jarrett is an assistant professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is co-editor (with Henry Louis Gates Jr.) of a forthcoming anthology, New Negro Criticism: Essays on Race, Representation, and African American Culture.Thomas Morgan is a lecturer at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His research and teaching interests focus on critical race theory in late-nineteenth century American and African American literature, specifically as it applies to the politics of narrative form.

Author Biography

The son of former slaves, Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the most prominent and publicly recognized figures in American literature at the turn of the twentieth century. Thirty-three years old at the time of his death in 1906, he had published four novels, four collections of short stories, and fourteen books of poetry, not to mention numerous songs, plays, and essays in newspapers and magazines around the world. THE EDITORS---Gene Jarrett is an assistant professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is co-editor (with Henry Louis Gates Jr.) of a forthcoming anthology, New Negro Criticism: Essays on Race, Representation, and African American Culture. Thomas Morgan is a lecturer at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His research and teaching interests focus on critical race theory in late-nineteenth century American and African American literature, specifically as it applies to the politics of narrative form.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Shelley Fisher Fishkin	ix
Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction	xv
Editors' Note	xlv
I: Collected Stories
Folks from Dixie (1898)
Anner 'Lizer's Stumblin' Block	3	(8)
The Ordeal at Mt. Hope	11	(14)
The Colonel's Awakening	25	(4)
The Trial Sermons on Bull-Skin	29	(9)
Jimsella	38	(3)
Mt. Pisgah's Christmas 'Possum	41	(4)
A Family Feud	45	(6)
Aunt Mandy's Investment	51	(4)
The Intervention of Peter	55	(4)
Nelse Hatton's Vengeance	59	(6)
At Shaft II	65	(10)
The Deliberation of Mr. Dunkin	75	(11)
The Strength of Gideon and Other Stories (1900)
The Strength of Gideon	86	(8)
Mammy Peggy's Pride	94	(9)
Viney's Free Papers	103	(7)
The Fruitful Sleeping of the Rev. Elisha Edwards	110	(5)
The Ingrate	115	(5)
The Case of "Ca'line"	120	(2)
The Finish of Patsy Barnes	122	(5)
One Man's Fortunes	127	(12)
Jim's Probation	139	(4)
Uncle Simon's Sundays Out	143	(10)
Mr. Cornelius Johnson, Office-Seeker	153	(7)
An Old-Time Christmas	160	(3)
A Mess of Pottage	163	(4)
The Trustfulness of Polly	167	(4)
The Tragedy at Three Forks	171	(5)
The Finding of Zach	176	(3)
Johnsonham, Junior	179	(3)
The Faith Cure Man	182	(3)
A Council of State	185	(9)
Silas Jackson	194	(8)
In Old Plantation Days (1903)
Aunt Tempe's Triumph	202	(4)
Aunt Tempe's Revenge	206	(5)
The Walls of Jericho	211	(5)
How Brother Parker Fell from Grace	216	(4)
The Trousers	220	(4)
The Last Fiddling of Mordaunt's Jim	224	(4)
A Supper by Proxy	228	(4)
The Trouble about Sophiny	232	(5)
Mr. Groby's Slippery Gift	237	(4)
Ash-Cake Hannah and Her Ben	241	(5)
Dizzy-Headed Dick	246	(3)
The Conjuring Contest	249	(5)
Dandy Jim's Conjure Scare	254	(3)
The Memory of Martha	257	(5)
Who Stand for the Gods	262	(4)
A Lady Slipper	266	(6)
A Blessed Deceit	272	(5)
The Brief Cure of Aunt Fanny	277	(5)
The Stanton Coachman	282	(3)
The Easter Wedding	285	(3)
The Finding of Martha	288	(9)
The Defection of Maria Ann Gibbs	297	(5)
A Judgment of Paris	302	(5)
Silent Sam'el	307	(4)
The Way of a Woman	311	(4)
The Heart of Happy Hollow (1904)
Foreword	315	(1)
The Scapegoat	315	(10)
One Christmas at Shiloh	325	(4)
The Mission of Mr. Scatters	329	(10)
A Matter of Doctrine	339	(5)
Old Abe's Conversion	344	(5)
The Race Question	349	(2)
A Defender of the Faith	351	(3)
Cahoots	354	(4)
The Promoter	358	(8)
The Wisdom of Silence	366	(4)
The Triumph of 0l' Mis' Pease	370	(5)
The Lynching of Jube Benson	375	(5)
Schwalliger's Philanthropy	380	(5)
The Interference of Patsy Ann	385	(4)
The Home-Coming of 'Rastus Smith	389	(5)
The Boy and the Bayonet	394	(7)
II: Uncollected Stories
Dialect Stories (New York Journal and Advertiser, 1897)
Buss Jinkins Up Nawth: A Human Nature Sketch of Real Darkey Life in New York	401	(3)
Yellowjack's Game of Craps: A Character Sketch of Real Darky Life in New York	404	(3)
How George Johnson "Won Out": A Character Sketch of Real Darky Life in New York	407	(4)
The Hoodooing of Mr. Bill Simms: A Darky Dialect Story	411	(3)
"Ohio Pastorals" (Lippincott's, 1901)
The Mortification of the Flesh	414	(6)
The Independence of Silas Bollender	420	(6)
The White Counterpane	426	(8)
The Minority Committee	434	(6)
The Visiting of Mother Danbury	440	(6)
Individual Stories (1890-1905)
His Bride of the Tomb	446	(3)
His Failure in Arithmetic	449	(1)
His Little Lark	450	(1)
From Impulse	451	(4)
The Tenderfoot	455	(4)
Little Billy	459	(4)
The End of the Chapter	463	(2)
Lafe Halloway's Two Fights	465	(7)
The Emancipation of Evalina Jones	472	(5)
The Lion Tamer	477	(4)
Nathan Makes His Proposal	481	(1)
In a Circle	482	(2)
Jethro's Garden	484	(4)
The Vindication of Jared Hargot	488	(6)
The Way of Love	494	(5)
The Churching of Grandma Pleasant	499	(4)
The Case of Cadwallader	503	(7)
Jimmy Weedon's Contretemps	510	(5)
Ole Conju'in Joe	515	(4)
A Prophesy of Fate	519	(4)
Sister Jackson's Superstitions	523
Sources
Alphabetical List of Stories	529	(4)
Chronological List of Stories	533	(6)
Works Cited	539	(2)
Index of Titles	541