Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow: The Courtship and Marriage of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Alice Ruth Moore

by Eleanor Alexander

Drawing on love letters, diaries, memoirs, and journals, this in-depth biography chronicles the tumultuous romance and marriage of African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar and Alice Ruth Moore, a relationship marred by violence, depression, alcoholism, and illness. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Race, Biography Memoir

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because the cover caught my eye, and boy, am I glad I did. This is a heavy book despite being slim, as it deals with racism, sexism, spousal abuse, sexual assault and other fun topics, so try to have something light and fluffy lined up. This book might sound like anti-fun, but seriously, I learned a lot about African-American life post-civil war, Victorian courtship rituals and there's some truly fabulous bits of Paul Laurence Dunbar's poetry in it.

[Banole · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you want to read a slim" book" that is filled with the compilers(can't call Alexander a writer) compilations in a rather vulgar attempt to slander a great poet by scribbling a soap opera hit piece of a failed marriage! Go ahead!
Paul Dunbar's writings will far outlive this money making scheme. Alexander has conjured up a fantasy that says far more about what's going on in her psyche than it does about Dunbar and his wife.
After pouring over the documents, Alexander has sensationalized a messy break up and used her imagination to add spice and create long negative narratives about African people during that era. To sell more books is the goal and to slander the dead is the requirement.
Dunbar died of TB at age 33.
Dunbar was human and did not rise above the human condition. Nor did his wife. Yet Dunbar left us far, far, far more than we can ever expect from Eleanor Alexander! THUMBS DOWN!

[Billie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was of two minds about this book. My scholarly side was frequently bothered by the unsubstantiated leaps of logic Alexander took in describing the Dunbars' relationship. My readerly side, however, was quite compelled throughout. This book reads like a narrative--I found myself very caught up in the story of the Dunbars. However, it became frustrating because I kept finding myself interrupting the narrative to ask, "How do we know this?" And the book too often didn't offer an answer to that question.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I encourage readers to first read some of the poems and other works of Alice Dunbar-Nelson and Paul Laurence Dunbar to know a bit more about their individual writing prior to engaging with the information in this book which is very interesting but the author dwelled so thoroughly on the sexual psychology of the couple it was rather necessary to set it down and investigate their work on its own merit.

[Liza Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 1/2 Stars
This novel suffers from its age.

Published in 2001 (10 days before 9/11, for anyone wondering), this limitation of the time is blatantly reflected in the text. While colorism is alluded to and discussed, it’s never explicitly named, and Mrs. Alice Dunbar's bisexuality is left unaddressed.

I wouldn’t reread this book, as I can’t endure the cruelty of reading about the brutality Alice suffered at the hands of her cruel husband, the famed late-19th-century "race" poet Paul Dunbar.

At times, the book felt bogged down by excessive explanations of late 19th-century culture. I admit, I skimmed pages that didn’t directly involve Paul and Alice. On occasion, it felt like I was reading an essay struggling to meet a word count for a grade.

That said, this historian shows promise as an author, and I would read another book from her any day.

[MH · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alexander uses guidebooks, etiquette manuals, and their copious letters to tell the sad story of Paul Laurence Dunbar (the "poet laureate of the Negro race" - also a violent, mentally ill alcoholic with severe mother issues) and Alice Ruth Moore (the beautiful and accomplished society woman and writer - also a difficult, deeply ambitious woman who refuses to accept her blackness). Their epistolary courtship and incredibly ill-matched marriage are just heart-breaking, and Alexander uses that as a way to discuss ideas of late Victorian courtship rituals and gender roles among the African American upper class at the turn of the 20th century - it's an ambitious project, and a fascinating look at a world that doesn't get much scholarly attention.

[Courtney Misich · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent study of their relationship that puts it into the larger view. I enjoyed that Alexander did not hide away the hard topics such as SA and DV. While the book doesn't exactly made you love either of them, it does help you understand Paul and Alice more and their decisions.

[Marguerite Hargreaves · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a bum steer from the New York Times. The story of literary figures Paul Laurence Dunbar and Alice Ruth Moore is interesting, but it gets lost here. Eleanor Alexander provides so much context about courtship, marriage, racism, sexism and other social dynamics that she loses the thread of her story about two people. Her research is meticulous. Possession of information doesn't warrant its inclusion, however. It might make a good magazine article. There isn't enough information about the couple to justify a book, even a relatively short one at 180 pages.