The Marrow of Tradition (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) [Paperback]

Charles W. Chesnutt (Author), Eric J. Sundquist (Editor, Contributor)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Twentieth Century Classics | Publication Date: February 1, 1993

One of the most significant novels in American literature, "The Marrow of Tradition" is based on the Wilmington, North Carolina, Massacre of 1898. Called a "race riot" by the inflammatory Southern press and engineered by white Democrats who had seen their political slip into the hands of Republicans, many of whom were black, it was in fact a coup that restored power to the Democrats by subverting the principles of free democratic election. Some of Charles Chestnutt's relatives lived through the violence, and their accounts inspired this powerful and passionate novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Based upon the Wilmington, NC, race riot of 1898 and written in 1901, this historical novel makes a plea for racial justice. A group of powerful white men continue to run the fictional town of Wellington and their households as though the Civil War had never occurred. Complicating matters even further, Olivia Carteret, wife of the white newspaper editor, discovers she and Janet Miller, wife of the town's black doctor, have the same father. As the town's residents battle their way through the social and racial issues resulting from the war, Olivia and Janet work their way through racial, social, and family issues. Michael Collins provides an excellent reading with his well-paced and expressive delivery combined with a wide range of male and female voices and accents. Professionally produced, this classic tale is recommended for all public, academic, and school libraries. Laurie Selwyn, Law Lib., Grayson Cty., Sherman, TX
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Review

"Chesnutt was tremendously explicit in representing the violence and his own anger. Today it reads as one of the more enduring novels of the era." --Richard Yarborough, UCLA

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (February 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140186867
• ISBN-13: 978-0140186864
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,948 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Astounding American Novel, February 3, 2003

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mp - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Marrow of Tradition (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics) (Paperback)

Charles Chesnutt's 1901 novel, "The Marrow of Tradition," is finally, after nearly a century, getting a broader audience, and deservedly so. Set in late 1890's North Carolina, Chesnutt's novel examines the psychology of turn of the century American race relations. Based on the incidents leading up to the 1898 Wilmington 'race riot,' "The Marrow of Tradition" is an astounding fictional study of American race relations, and their political, social, economic, and personal ramifications, which we still feel to-day. This is a novel which should join Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" as a key text in American literature courses, and in the broader social imaginary.

"The Marrow of Tradition" begins with multiple anxities - Major Carteret, a former Southern Civil War officer, whose family was nearly ruined as a result of the war, is in the process of rebuilding his family and his fortunes. Having founded a newspaper, 'The Morning Chronicle,' his fortunes seem to be on the rise. However, he envisions threats on every side - personally, the precarious life of his new born son constantly threatens to end his family line; politically, since the passage of the 15th Amendment, the black population of his hometown, Wellington, is increasingly subjecting his pride to the 'insult' of an 'inferior' race in positions of authority and influence. For the black population of Wellington, threats to their growing power are just as palpable - Carteret and his cronies (particularly General Belmont and 'Captain' McBane) are building up a 'white supremacy' movement; social relations between blacks and whites have the veneer of restraint, with explosive rage always bristling beneath the surface on both sides of the 'color line.' For black people like Sandy Campbell and Jane Letlow, in service to white families since before the war, investment in 'status quo antebellum' is a way of life. Others like Jerry Letlow and Josh Green represent absolute differences in opinion in their relations with the whites. For mixed-race individuals like Dr. William Miller and his wife Janet, social acceptance, respectability, and mobility seem possible. Miller's decision to build a hospital in Wellington is predicated on the hope that he might be a cornerstone for the up-and-coming black community.

With a complex set of relations like this in place, the novel quickly draws us in. Carteret's determination in setting up a 'white supremacy' movement meets with various successes and failures, as he uses his newspaper to sow seeds of discontent among the white population, which is actually outnumbered in Wellington, two to one. An editorial from a black newspaper, against the extra-judicial practices of lynch mobs enrages Carteret and his group. A key relationship in the novel, between an old Southern aristocrat, John Delamere, his profligate grandson, Tom, and their longtime family servant, Sandy Campbell, sets the stage for heightened racial tensions, when Sandy is accused of murdering an elderly white woman, Polly Ochiltree, who is related to the Carterets.

Chesnutt does a phenomenal job of juxtaposing the systems by which each individual and each group and sub-group in the novel deals with the realities of life in a post-Reconstruction southern town. From simple subsisting to aggressive attempts at change, from local traditions of hexcraft to public manipulation through the press, from defensive postures to mob mentality, from legislation to extra-legal action, from duties to the community to the duties owed to one's own family, Chesnutt presents his readers with a wide variety of strategies open to his characters. With a narrative voice which believes decisively in "Fate," the novel tries to illustrate the legacy of slavery, and the almost inevitable mess that comes about when stationary, progressive, and regressive mindsets clash on a public level.

One of Chesnutt's major achievements is in never wholly giving way to group mentalities or broad generalizations with regard to the actors in this drama. Stereotypes are as soon dismissed as acknowledged. He clearly allows for and presents differences in opinion on the level of the individual - Josh Green's self-proclaimed mission of vengeance against white people is as deeply felt as Jerry Letlow's wishes to become white. Even within the 'white supremacy' Big Three, Careteret, Belmont, and McBane express radically different approaches to gaining what they imagine to be a common goal. White characters like Philadelphia surgeon, Dr. Burns, and Wellington newspaper man, Lee Ellis, are as inclusionary and accepting of black citizens and their aspirations as their respective social positions will allow them to be. There is a lot more going on in "The Marrow of Tradition" than I have pointed to here. Professor Eric Sundquist's introduction does an excellent job of setting up the historical, political, and biographical contexts involved in the novel. Overall, this is an extremely rich novel and very much worth reading.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A melodramatic yet poignant tale for current times, August 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tradition (Paperback)

This novel, originally published in 1901, is based on a historic event from 1898, a racially based incident in which about a dozen African Americans in Wilmington, North Carolina, were brutally murdered by Caucasians who'd lost political power, after Reconstruction, and successfully gained that power back by massacring some and completely intimidating all of the other African Americans in that community. Chesnutt, however, does not simply retell the story of the "race riot" but uses that event as the basis for a story about the tensions between peoples of different "races" and the disenfranchisement of African Americans at the initiation of Jim Crow Laws. This is an interesting read, and excellent for the classroom, particularly when thinking about using fiction as the basis to teach students to do research. There are three editions: two are good and the third should be ignored completely. Buy the 20th Cent. Classics edition (edited by Sundquist) or the Univ. of Michigan/Ann Arbor Paperback edition (edited by Farnsworth). Do NOT buy the Black Classics/X-Press version; it is a sham. The publishers have changed the title to Tradition and have left out portions of the novel, sometimes just phrases and other times whole paragraphs. The Black Classics/X-Press edition is a different read completely and should NOT be ordered.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tradition and Justice, February 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Tradition (Paperback)

This Chesnutt novel is one of the most powerful fictional works about the nature of race relations published in the era of the Jim Crow South. It carefully relates issues of the "separate but equal" doctrine, Southern tradition and class distinctions, mob justice and lynching, generational shifts in race relations, and a number of other problems in an interesting narrative account of the Wilmington race riot. Chesnutt's style, powerful nuances, and memorable characters make this novel an essential read for anyone interested in the history of race relations in America.