The Marrow of Tradition (Dover Value Editions) [Paperback]

Charles W. Chesnutt (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dover Value Editions | Publication Date: December 19, 2003

A landmark in the history of African-American fiction, this gripping 1901 novel was among the first literary challenges to racial stereotypes. Its tragic history of 2 families unfolds against the backdrop of the post-Reconstruction South and climaxes with a race riot based on an actual 1898 incident. 

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (December 19, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486431630
• ISBN-13: 978-0486431635
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,891 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Special Groups > African-American Studies
  • #20 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > United States > Classics
  • #70 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > General > Literary

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Fast Delivery, January 8, 2012

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levin49 - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Marrow of Tradition (Dover Value Editions) (Paperback)

If I wasn't to busy, I would of wrote this review a couple of days ago. All I have to say is this order was the fastest. I'll actually have the book before class starts tomorrow. Overall, I would recommend this buy.

5.0 out of 5 stars terrific, October 18, 2011

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Avid Reader "avid reader" (Atlanta GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Marrow of Tradition (Dover Value Editions) (Paperback)

This book is very well-written, easy to read with a compelling storyline. The author was well regarded in his day but for whatever reason, is little known today. This is unfortunate for although the novel was written in 1901, it has a modern edginess to it that makes it powerful and relevant. I highly recommend it.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent, August 30, 2009

By 

Maxtone Witherball - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Marrow of Tradition (Dover Value Editions) (Paperback)

I am not intimately familiar with the facts of the Wilmington coup d'etat (though I do plan to read at some point North Carolina's official history thereof, which it issued in 2006).

And so, even though I know that the Marrow of Tradition is at least to some degree a roman à clef (for example, Wellington is obviously Wilmington, and the Morning Chronicle is probably the Morning Star), and even though, being something of a student of the post-Reconstruction South, I can say that nothing in the book rings anything but true, I will assume for for the purpose of this review that the book is simply a novel--at least in the sense that the Grapes of Wrath or the Jungle are simply novels.

I intend reference to those two books to signify only that the Marrow of Tradition has its roots in historical fact. I do not mean to convey an impression that it rakes muck or is polemical. The novel is far too evenhanded and fatalistic for that--but it is, unquestionably, a masterpiece.

I think few would disagree that two of the three most important things about a novel are how good it is (or how engrossing), and how well it's told (i.e., how well-written). On these dimensions, the Marrow of Tradition is unsurpassed. It tells terrifically captivating stories (I hesitate to use the word "entertaining," for fear of insulting the memory of the victims of the Wilmington pogroms), and these it beautifully and masterfully weaves together with exquisite plotting and prose. (To expand, the book is not only something of a thriller (again, an infra dig (but I think fairly descriptive) bit of diction on my part) about the violent overthrow of a democratically elected government in the New South; it is also a novel of manners and a crime novel, with elements of high drama and Greek tragedy. Critically, however, it is not some kind of mishmash of genres, but an airtight, seamless, altogether ravishing whole.)

To my mind, the third most (but not least) important thing about a novel is its morality. In this regard, the Marrow of Tradition is literally unexampled--at least within my library. (I suspect that other books, like the Quest of the Silver Fleece, may be similarly righteous, but I have not read them.) No other novel I have read is as much on God's side as this one (I say that figuratively, not being a theist). This is emphatically not to say, however, that the novel is preachy, or cloying, or indulgent in any kind of simplistic good-versus-evil paradigms. Rather, it treats so-called "white supremacy" (I don't believe I really understand what that term means--I suspect to white Southerners, it meant that they not only held each and every rein of power, but deserved to do so, while to others it may just denote the fact of absolute white hegemony, and no more, or constitute a perverse joke) with nuance, as it does the responses thereto of the black professional, working, and service classes. You will find no stereotypes or clichés or easy outs in this book.

In short, if such a thing as the "great American novel" exists, the Marrow of Tradition is it. Whether it's expert storytelling you seek, or a clear window onto the Age of White Supremacy, Charles W. Chestnutt's classic will provide.