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The Richer, the Poorer: Stories, Sketches, and Reminiscences
On the heels of the bestseller success of her novel The Wedding , Dorothy West, the last surviving member of the Harlem Renaissance, presents a collection of essays and stories that explore both the realism of everyday life, and the fantastical, extraordinary circumstances of one woman's life in a mythic time. Traversing the universal themes and conflicts between poverty and prosperity, men and women, and young and old, and compiling writing that spans almost seventy years, The Richer, The Poorer not only affords an unparalleled window into the African-American middle class, but also delves into the richness of experience of "one of the finest writers produced in this country during the Roaring Twenties"( Book Page ).
254 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1995
31 people are currently reading
489 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy West
32 books160 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Dorothy West was a novelist and short story writer who was part of the Harlem Renaissance. She is best known for her novel The Living Is Easy, about the life of an upper-class black family.
West's principal contribution to the Harlem Renaissance was to publish the magazine Challenge, which she founded in 1934 with $40. She also published the magazines successor, New Challenge. These magazines were among the first to publish literature featuring realistic portrayals of African Americans. Among the works published were Richard Wright's groundbreaking essay "Blueprint for Negro Writing," together with writings by Margaret Walker and Ralph Ellison.
After both magazines folded because of insufficient financing, West worked for the Works Progress Administration's Federal Writers' Project until the mid-1940s. During this time she wrote a number of short stories for the New York Daily News. She then moved to Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, where she wrote her first novel, The Living Is Easy. Published in 1948, her novel was well received critically but did not sell many copies.
In the four decades after, West worked as a journalist, primarily writing for a small newspaper on Martha's Vineyard. In 1982 a feminist press brought The Living Is Easy back into print, giving new attention to West and her role in the Harlem Renaissance. As a result of this attention, at age 85 West finally finished a second novel, titled The Wedding. Published in 1995, the novel was a best-seller and resulted in the publication of a collection of West's short stories and reminiscences called The Richer, the Poorer. Oprah Winfrey turned the novel into a two-part television miniseries, The Wedding (TV miniseries).
Dorothy West was a novelist and short story writer who was part of the Harlem Renaissance. She is best known for her novel The Living Is Easy, about the life of an upper-class black family.
West's principal contribution to the Harlem Renaissance was to publish the magazine Challenge, which she founded in 1934 with $40. She also published the magazines successor, New Challenge. These magazines were among the first to publish literature featuring realistic portrayals of African Americans. Among the works published were Richard Wright's groundbreaking essay "Blueprint for Negro Writing," together with writings by Margaret Walker and Ralph Ellison.
After both magazines folded because of insufficient financing, West worked for the Works Progress Administration's Federal Writers' Project until the mid-1940s. During this time she wrote a number of short stories for the New York Daily News. She then moved to Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, where she wrote her first novel, The Living Is Easy. Published in 1948, her novel was well received critically but did not sell many copies.
In the four decades after, West worked as a journalist, primarily writing for a small newspaper on Martha's Vineyard. In 1982 a feminist press brought The Living Is Easy back into print, giving new attention to West and her role in the Harlem Renaissance. As a result of this attention, at age 85 West finally finished a second novel, titled The Wedding. Published in 1995, the novel was a best-seller and resulted in the publication of a collection of West's short stories and reminiscences called The Richer, the Poorer. Oprah Winfrey turned the novel into a two-part television miniseries, The Wedding (TV miniseries).
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 26, 2016
Dorothy West was a novelist and short story writer, best known for being part of the Harlem Renaissance in the late1920s and early 1930s. West wrote two novels, but a lot of shorter fiction and journalism. This is a collection of shorter fiction with some journalism. The collection ranges over sixty years form an early short story in 1926 to the late 1980s. West hailed from the middle class black community in Boston; she reflects and explains their attitudes whilst critiquing them as well. West also describes the black community on Martha’s Vineyard and she lived there for many years.
West’s stories critique the attitudes she sees around her, but she does also address race and gender as well. There is variety in the collection and West employs a variety of narrative strategies. The writing is effortlessly charming and West has a way of making her points quietly and in an understated way; but still very effectively. The writing has a strong sense of place. It is slightly puzzling that West isn’t better known and she seems to be excluded from discussions about American Modernism and little mentioned in discussions of black female authors, because I found her writing very good. She is very good at seeing both sides of an issue whilst still being able to come to a conclusion. She explores the nature of class and poverty and the desire for education.
West deals with the simple day to day realities of life and looks at the way the American Dream relates to those she writes about. For me, West should be more widely read and appreciated.
West’s stories critique the attitudes she sees around her, but she does also address race and gender as well. There is variety in the collection and West employs a variety of narrative strategies. The writing is effortlessly charming and West has a way of making her points quietly and in an understated way; but still very effectively. The writing has a strong sense of place. It is slightly puzzling that West isn’t better known and she seems to be excluded from discussions about American Modernism and little mentioned in discussions of black female authors, because I found her writing very good. She is very good at seeing both sides of an issue whilst still being able to come to a conclusion. She explores the nature of class and poverty and the desire for education.
West deals with the simple day to day realities of life and looks at the way the American Dream relates to those she writes about. For me, West should be more widely read and appreciated.
November 14, 2014
There are writers who let you keep yourself while reading their books. There are writers who allow you to forget yourself and become one with the words and feelings and experiences. Dorothy West is the latter. I feel like I have lived with her, or that I am her...or have been her. I am definitely reading more of her. Recommended to you who loves and appreciates exquisite genius writing.
March 4, 2016
The surprise appearance of a Wallace Thurman essay was all I needed and wanted
February 21, 2020
The best thing about reading this was it was an intro for me to this author. Some stories were 4 or 5 star, most were a good solid 3. Glad I read the collection.
August 1, 2016
"To know how much there is to know is the beginning of learning to live. Don't count the years that are left us. At our time of life, it's the days that count. You've too much catching up to do to waste a minute of a waking hour feeling sorry for yourself." Bess, 56
I can't believe this has been in my to-read queue on Goodreads since 2011 and yet I somehow thought I'd already read it. Reading this short story and essay collection reaffirmed that I love Dorothy West. Her stories explore class lines and marital discord and then the collection jumps to a lovely essay about Wallace Thurman or the history of Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard. She has a wide range of topics. Her stories also end with a resolution or leave the readers with an idea of what will happen next which I appreciate as an impatient reader of short stories. I do find it funny that she seems to dislike marriage so much, one of the biggest takeaways from this collection is that she doesn't seem to believe in happy marriages. None of her couples are happy and it got a little old after awhile.
As I've been more active in reading online social commentary and critiques I've started to pick up on ideas that are common today being similarly described or lightly touched upon in some of the greatest writers. Granted this collection was published in the '90s but I think the 'newest' story is from 1987. For example this devastating line from one of West's characters; "'It's hard,' he said gently, 'for colored girls to do things that are beautiful, like acting in plays, or singing in op'ra, or dancing in ballets'" (150). And then there was this familiar line of thinking in MAMMY "'How good Negroes are. I am so glad it was you who came. You are so sympathetic. I could not have talked so freely to a white investigator. She would not have understood.' The investigator's smile was wintry. She resented this well-meant restatement of the trusted position of the good darky" (46), which was the one story that did leave me feeling unsatisfied as I felt I wasn't understanding the secrets in the family. But that line really struck me as did the story itself, its haunting in its exploration of good intentions, bureaucracy and the relationship between "the help" and their employers.
I'm very glad Professor Henry Gates Jr. hounded West into putting together this collection, it's a treat and valuable part of the literary canon by lifting up a group of people still ignored in literary fiction, the black bourgeoisie. Her style is subtle with a wink and a nod, I'd imagine in person she had a very dry sense of humor. Finally this line in the preface is fantastic "we also see her [West's] larger political statement that, in black communities especially, the privileged and the poor, like house servant and field slave, are sometimes desperately united."
Final favorite quote: "He had remembered the good part and forgotten the rest, which is the dictate of wisdom" (214)
I can't believe this has been in my to-read queue on Goodreads since 2011 and yet I somehow thought I'd already read it. Reading this short story and essay collection reaffirmed that I love Dorothy West. Her stories explore class lines and marital discord and then the collection jumps to a lovely essay about Wallace Thurman or the history of Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard. She has a wide range of topics. Her stories also end with a resolution or leave the readers with an idea of what will happen next which I appreciate as an impatient reader of short stories. I do find it funny that she seems to dislike marriage so much, one of the biggest takeaways from this collection is that she doesn't seem to believe in happy marriages. None of her couples are happy and it got a little old after awhile.
As I've been more active in reading online social commentary and critiques I've started to pick up on ideas that are common today being similarly described or lightly touched upon in some of the greatest writers. Granted this collection was published in the '90s but I think the 'newest' story is from 1987. For example this devastating line from one of West's characters; "'It's hard,' he said gently, 'for colored girls to do things that are beautiful, like acting in plays, or singing in op'ra, or dancing in ballets'" (150). And then there was this familiar line of thinking in MAMMY "'How good Negroes are. I am so glad it was you who came. You are so sympathetic. I could not have talked so freely to a white investigator. She would not have understood.' The investigator's smile was wintry. She resented this well-meant restatement of the trusted position of the good darky" (46), which was the one story that did leave me feeling unsatisfied as I felt I wasn't understanding the secrets in the family. But that line really struck me as did the story itself, its haunting in its exploration of good intentions, bureaucracy and the relationship between "the help" and their employers.
I'm very glad Professor Henry Gates Jr. hounded West into putting together this collection, it's a treat and valuable part of the literary canon by lifting up a group of people still ignored in literary fiction, the black bourgeoisie. Her style is subtle with a wink and a nod, I'd imagine in person she had a very dry sense of humor. Finally this line in the preface is fantastic "we also see her [West's] larger political statement that, in black communities especially, the privileged and the poor, like house servant and field slave, are sometimes desperately united."
Final favorite quote: "He had remembered the good part and forgotten the rest, which is the dictate of wisdom" (214)
December 30, 2008
I truly enjoy the writings of Dorothy West. I discovered her writings when I was vacationing in Martha's Vineyard. I gained an appreciation for the black elite in the 1950's through reading her writings.
September 7, 2016
A different culture, a different era - wonderfully written.
February 20, 2022
A classic piece of literature. Every story feels timeless yet refreshing to read even if it starts off feeling like it's been done before. There are some great character studies and morals about how our own actions affect our lives as well as others. Stories about how families work and how some do not. Humans being very much humans.
This quote from "An Unimportant Man" where the parents of a child argue about her future based on their individual contrary life experiences:
“Essie’s got a right to decide her own future,” he cried jealously. “I’d bin a better man today if my mother had let me live my own life.”
“You might ‘a’ bin slavin’ in a cotton field. You might ‘a’ bin swingin’ from a tree. And then, God knows, you would ‘a’ blamed your mother.”
There is a second half of the book composed of sketches from West's life. Some of them were really interesting and informative to read. Some of them regarding the geography, political and religious history of Martha's Vineyard, though, went right over my head. But I did love the writing and impeccable flow of each story.
This quote from "An Unimportant Man" where the parents of a child argue about her future based on their individual contrary life experiences:
“Essie’s got a right to decide her own future,” he cried jealously. “I’d bin a better man today if my mother had let me live my own life.”
“You might ‘a’ bin slavin’ in a cotton field. You might ‘a’ bin swingin’ from a tree. And then, God knows, you would ‘a’ blamed your mother.”
There is a second half of the book composed of sketches from West's life. Some of them were really interesting and informative to read. Some of them regarding the geography, political and religious history of Martha's Vineyard, though, went right over my head. But I did love the writing and impeccable flow of each story.
October 9, 2018
Such an interesting, important voice, such beautifully written stories.
August 25, 2020
A collection of short stories by Dorothy West, a Harlem Renaissance writer. Each story is self-contained although much of it is autobiographical. Stories were well-written and engaging.
December 22, 2020
Good book some stories
Confusing
Touching
and better than others
Definitely makes you value what you have
Confusing
Touching
and better than others
Definitely makes you value what you have
February 7, 2021
Wests reminisces and stories about the Vineyard and her life are wonderful. The short stories felt slightly unfinished somehow.
December 29, 2021
A writer during the Harlem Renaissance helps educate us today. Her insight and writing style is superb. If you have not read Dorothy West's work do so. You will not regret it.
December 23, 2022
Glad I picked this up!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews