The Short Fiction of Rudolph Fisher:

by Rudolph Fisher, Margaret Perry (Editor)

Despite the fact that a number of Rudolph Fisher's works appeared in national magazines such as Atlantic Monthly and McClure's , little critical attention has been devoted to his short fiction over the years. This collection brings together, for the first time, fifteen of Fisher's general adult stories, detective stories, and his stories for children, accompanied by an introduction, brief biography, and a chronology of his published work. The introductory essay explores the short story as a genre and examines Fisher's place in American short fiction.

242 pages, Hardcover

First published June 23, 1987

About the author

Born in Washington, DC in the late nineteenth century, Fisher grew up in Providence, Rhode Island graduating from Classical High School and attending Brown University. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from Brown in 1919, where he delivered the valedictory address, and received a Master of Arts a year later.[citation needed] He went on to attend Howard University Medical School and graduated in 1924.

Fisher came to New York City in 1925 to take up a fellowship at College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, during which time he published two scientific articles of his research on treating bacteriophage viruses with ultraviolet light. Fisher married Jane Ryder in 1925, and they had one son, Hugh, who was born in 1926.

After his fellowship ended, Fisher had a private practice on Long Island. In 1930, he became superintendent of International Hospital, a black-owned private hospital on Seventh Avenue in Harlem, but the hospital went bankrupt in October 1931.

Fisher died after unsuccessful abdominal surgery in 1934 at the age of 37.