The Unforgetting Heart: An Anthology of Short Stories by African American Women

by Asha Kanwar (Editor)

This unique collection brings together an unprecedented range of beautifully crafted short stories by women that span a century and a half of African American literary tradition. Included are authors as varied as Alice Dunbar Nelson, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Cade Bambara and Wanda Coleman.

Genres: Anthologies, Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Erin Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure how to review an anthology. This collection includes 32 stories by African American women spanning a century and a half. Some were painfully boring - "The Two Offers", the earliest story represented, reads like Nathaniel Hawthorn's House of Seven Gables (ugh!) and is 99% morality fable and 1% narrative. Others were marvelous examplars of both theme and form (my favorites include "Nineteen Fifty-Five" (1971), "Kiswana Browne" (1980), and "Goldie" (1920), which I read twice in succession and made me cry both times).

This is an amazing collection, chronologically arranged to provide a sense of the overall thrust and major changes in Black American women's literature. My main criticism is that I would have really liked to see more framing narrative and analysis. Besides the introduction and (very) short biographical sketches of each author, there's no additional information to help interpret the works. In any case, this work brings together many hard to find authors, not represented in print aside from the old literary magazines their stories were originally published in. I find myself being incredibly grateful to the editor for putting this collection together and know that I will come back to these stories again and again.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

The two offers (1859) / Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Aunt Lindy : a story founded on real life (1893) / Victoria Earle Matthews
Tony's wife (1899) / Alice Dunbar --2
*A dash for liberty (1901) / Pauline E. Hopkins
The octoroon's revenge (1902) / Ruth D. Todd
After many days : a Christmas story (1902) / Fannie Barrier Williams
The preacher at Hill Station (1903) / Katherine Davis Chapman Tillman
Guests unexpected : a Thanksgiving story (1908) / Miss Maude K. Griffin
The judgement of Roxenie (1909) / Effie Waller Smith
Breaking the color-line (1915) / Annie McCary
Mammy : a story (1917) / Adeline F. Ries
*Mary Elizabeth : a story (1919) / Jessie Fauset
Goldie (1920) / Angelina Weld Grimke
*Isis (1924) / Zora Neale Hurston
Sanctuary (1930) / Nella Larsen --2
*Doby's gone (1944) / Ann Petry
*In the laundry room (1956) / Alice Childress
*Brooklyn (1961) / Paule Marshall
*The funeral (1967) / Ann Allen Shockley
*A happening in Barbados (1968) / Louise M. Meriwether
Mom Luby and the social worker (1968) / Kristen Hunter
*The library (1970) / Nikki Giovanni
*After Saturday night comes Sunday (1971) / Sonia Sanchez
Nineteen Fifty-Five (1971) / Alice Walker --3
The lesson (1972) / Toni Cade Bambara --3
*Kiswana Browne (1980) / Gloria Naylor
Johnnieruth (1981) / Becky Birtha
*Fifth Sunday (1985) / Rita Dove
*The life you live (may not be your own) (1987) / J. California Cooper
*Ma'Dear (1987) / Terry McMillan
Emerald City : Third and Pike (1992) / Charlotte Watson Sherman
Croon (1993) / Wanda Coleman