Tales of Conjure and the Color Line: 10 Stories

by Charles W. Chesnutt, Joan R. Sherman (Editor)

Outstanding, affordably priced volume presents a selection of 10 best stories by a pioneer in the development of African-American fiction: "The Goophered Grapevine," "Po’ Sandy," "Sis’ Becky’s Pickaninny," "The Wife of His Youth," "Dave’s Neckliss," "The Passing of Grandison," "A Matter of Principle," "The Sheriff’s Children," "Baxter’s Procrustes," and "The Doll." Redolent with wit, charm, and insight; essential reading for students of African-American culture. Edited and with an Introduction by Joan Sherman.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Short Stories, Race, College

117 pages, Paperback

First published June 19, 1998

About the author

Charles Waddell Chesnutt was an author, essayist and political activist, best known for his novels and short stories exploring complex issues of racial and social identity.

Reviews

[Carrie Schupack]

read for my American Lit class!

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a truly remarkable set of stories barely recognized in today's day and age. Chesnutt, a writer of the late 1800s and early 1900s was an African American of what was called "passing" whiteness. He was, as he described it, seven-eights White and because of this trait he could "pass" as so, but was often still treated as fully Black. Hinging on this fact gave birth to many short stories, essays, and novels that remarked so distinctly on racial relations after the Civil War.

With most Blacks being a percentage White at this time, there was a lot of "mulatto" or mixed races developing in the United States. Riding on the coattails of this was concerns of White marrying mistakenly light-colored Blacks or light-colored Blacks looking to get even lighter through marriage. There's also a distinctly magical element to Chesnutt's stories that blend Southern beliefs in witchcraft with more sensible concepts of Northern science.

Chesnutt truly envelopes the reader in the tensions and beliefs and concepts of a turbulent time that can be transferred just as easily to today. These short stories enrapture and have you feeling like you're right there listening to the old, Black, Southern gentleman, with his heavy accent, talk about the slave days and the particular bickering of a "passing," successful businessman struggle to see his daughter married to a distinguished, White-looking, Black man which ends in him having to pretend his whole family has diptheria.

Funny, linguistically stunning, and provocative for anyone wanting to understand where and how racial blending works in societies (even today), these stories are truly tremendous. A word of warning, however, is that much of the first stories are told by individuals with thick, heavy, incredibly dialect-dependent speech. I found it easier to read these portions out loud as my tongue, despite being a New Yorker, naturally began to mold itself around the sounds. Try it, if you struggle with those parts. Also, there is language befitting the time that Chesnutt was alive and is often used (intentionally, I'm sure) to strike at the readers eyes and alert them to societal issues. Remember the time it was written for these stories absolutely still have a great deal of use.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remain impressed that more than one of these stories moved me to tears. Chesnutt's use of African American Vernacular in many of these stories can create a barrier for readers, but those able to work through Chesnutt's depiction of AAV will find stories that defy Jim Crow and plantation era stereotypes by asserting the agency of Black characters. These stories are especially important insofar as they call readers' attention to Black people's lives post-slavery following the Civil War.

[Mark Matzeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are powerful stories. Written from the perspective of a black man in the late 19th Century, Chesnutt's observations sadly seem as relevant today as they were when published a century ago.

[Melissa Reise · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thing that threw me off was how much hard vernacular Chesnutt used. It was so difficult to push through that I had to find the audio versions so I could understand what was going on. The stories were nice and kept my attention for the most part.

[Tonja, Literary Gardener · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This was such a great book! The southern dialect was difficult to understand, so I found Librivox recordings on YouTube to help with comprehension.

[Nils Samuels · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lost writer from a hundred years ago, Chesnutt is best in these stories that bridge the generations before and after slavery, with characters who want to forget the past but cannot. The theme of passing and dissembling applies beyond the surface meaning of whiteness and blackness to the very idea of how we operate as social creatures in the world. These stories also deeply question the romantic vogue for plantation stories in the 1880s and 1890s, led by the Uncle Remus stories of Joel Chandler Harris. Along with =The Marrow of Tradition,= this collection shows that Chesnutt ought to be granted a far larger audience than he has. "The Passing of Grandison" and "Dave's Neckliss" stand out. "Baxter's Procrustes" is a protopostmodern story about what and how we read.

[Avery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chesnutt was born 15/16 caucasian, and chose to life his life under allegiance to the black communities. Never entirely accepted by or accepting of either side of the color line, Chesnutt still committed his life and career to illuminating the color line in effort to dissolve it.

Might I add that Chesnutt is an extraordinary writer - a mystery writer with social insight and historical emphasis. His plot twists will get yer goat.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of stories—elegantly subversive. I'm looking forward to using this in class this fall.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Awesome but incredibly difficult to read because of the amazing dialect.

[June Ellis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this for a class. Was certainly interesting, but the dialect in some areas did make it harder to read. ‘The Doll’ was my personal favorite story.