Three Classic African-American Novels : Clotel, Iola Leroy, The Marrow of Tradition

by Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Editor), William W. Brown, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

William Wells Brown, Frances E.W. Harper, and Charles W. Chesnutt, three black writers who bore witness to the experience of their people under slavery, create a portrait of black life in the 19th century in these three novels.

Genres: Fiction, Classics

769 pages, Paperback

First published August 11, 1990

About the author

Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. is a Professor of African and African-American Studies at Harvard University and Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. He is well-known as a literary critic, an editor of literature, and a proponent of black literature and black cultural studies.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Out of the three novels, The Marrow of Tradition is probably the one I enjoyed most, although the man that's supposed to be the protagonist has much less screen time than the white 'villains'.

Clotel and Iola Leroy were also eminently readable, and I didn't fail to notice that one of the chief horrors of slavery mentioned is not only the physical punishment or squalid living conditions (although both are horrible), but the separation of families - which, for obvious reasons sets a poignant note right about now...

[Tinika Mcintosh]

My fav had to have been Clotel... because of the good arguments against slavery. I think they all kinda present a one-sided view of slavery. They are all based on house slaves. After finishing I realize they were all good in their own way... The Marrow of Tradition... really made me think I was reading a mystery. The order of the novels is perfect because it is like they build on each other even though they have different authors.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far Iola Leroy down and Marrow of Tradition to go.

Honestly, Harper's work feels contrived. If you analyze it too much, it will take the fun out of reading it. I had to read it for a class, thus analyzing, and it took the enjoyment out of it.