Nigger Heaven
OCLC 647060292 | |
Nigger Heaven is a novel written by Carl Van Vechten, and published in October 1926. The book is set during the Harlem Renaissance in the United States in the 1920s. The book and its title have been controversial since its publication.
The novel is a portrayal of life in the "great black walled city" of
This roman à clef became an instant bestseller and served as an informal guide book to Harlem. It also split the Black literary community, as some including Langston Hughes and Nella Larsen appreciated it, while others like Countee Cullen and W. E. B. Du Bois regarded it as an "affront to the hospitality of black folks". The book fuelled a period of "Harlemania", during which the neighborhood became en vogue among white people, who then frequented its cabarets and bars.
Author
By the 1920s, Van Vechten was a noted music and dance critic in New York.
Synopsis
Title
"Nigger heaven" was a term used in the 19th century to refer to church balconies, which were segregated for African Americans, as the white members of the congregation sat below; cf. the use of paradise for the upper seats of a theatre.[2][3]
Plot
The short novel begins with a prologue about a violent
The second novella is Byron's story. He greatly resents the segregated nature of New York. After his relationship with Mary, he takes up with a debauched socialite as they explore the wild side of Harlem. The socialite dumps him adding to his earlier negative views on the society in which they live. The novel ends with a violent confrontation involving Scarlet and Byron, and although Scarlet is at fault, Byron faces punishment for it.[1]
Reception
The book, due in part to the inclusion of the pejorative "nigger" in its title, was met with a mixed reception. It was initially banned in Boston.[4] Van Vechten's father was said to have written his son two letters imploring that he change the title to something less offensive.[5] Van Vechten discussed the title with poet Countee Cullen, who was enraged by it, and they had several arguments over it.[1] According to reviewer Kelefa Sanneh, one interpretation is that although he was a white man, he felt he had licence to use the pejorative because he had cultivated many professional and personal relationships in Harlem. Van Vechten suggested that he knew most would still be offended and not forgive him; he was not averse to using the controversy to boost publicity, and he knew at least some in Harlem would defend him.[1]
The ambivalence about the book, its title, and what it signifies about the author, has continued into the 21st century. According to Sennah, Van Vechten meant the book to be a celebration of Harlem, but the title expressed the ambivalence about the place in the context of a largely segregated society.[1] Van Vechten put the titular expression in the dialogue of one of his characters, who explained that the denizens of Harlem were stuck in the balcony of New York City, while the whites in the "good seats" downtown only occasionally and cruelly acknowledged them to laugh or sneer, but not to know them.[1]
Despite central characters who were young, cultured, and Black,
Opinions of the novel also diverged along racial lines. Many white critics of the time had little to compare Nigger Heaven to, and viewed the novel as an enlightening, forward-minded text.[10]
The controversy cast a long shadow over the reputation of its author. Ralph Ellison condemned both the book and the author in the 1950s. Historian of the Harlem Renaissance David Levering Lewis found the book at best quaint, but calls it a "colossal fraud", with Van Vechten's motives being a “a mixture of commercialism and patronizing sympathy.”[1] The book was successfully marketed to white people to exploit their fascination with the "other side of town". Later biographers, Emily Bernard (who nonetheless calls the title an "open wound"), and especially Edward White express more admiration for what Van Vechten attempted to do by crossing boundaries.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Sanneh, Kelefa (February 17, 2014). "White Mischief: The passions of Carl Van Vechten". The New Yorker.
- ISBN 9781595554048.
- ISBN 9780820317168.
- ^ Van Vechten 2000, p. xiii
- ^ Van Vechten 2000, p. xiv-v
- ^ Worth 1995, p. 464
- JSTOR 3041204.
- ^ Lewis 1995, p. 106
- JSTOR 2924308.
- ^ Worth 1995, p. 492
Bibliography
- Du Bois, W.E.B. (1995). W.E.B. Du Bois: A Reader. New York, New York: Henry Holt & Co. ISBN 0-8050-3264-9.
W.E.B. Du Bois: a reader.
- Hart, Robert C. (1973). "Literary Relations in the Harlem Renaissance". American Literature. 44 (4): 612–28. JSTOR 2924308.
- Helbling, Mark (1976). "Carl Van Vechten and the Harlem Renaissance". Negro American Literature Forum. 10 (2): 39–47. JSTOR 3041204.
- ISBN 0140170367.
- ISBN 0-252-06860-2.
- Worth, Robert F. (1995). "Nigger Heaven and the Harlem Renaissance". JSTOR 3042395.
External links
Media related to Nigger Heaven at Wikimedia Commons
The full text of Nigger Heaven at Wikisource
- Nigger Heaven at Faded Page (Canada)
- Bookseller's Review
- The PAL Holdings and Commentary on Carl Van Vechten