The House Behind the Cedars Charles Waddell Chesnutt 9781447459705 Books
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This early work by Charles W. Chesnutt was originally published in 1900. Charles Waddell Chesnutt was born to freed African-American parents in Cleveland, Ohio, USA in 1858. After having published numerous short stories in journals and magazines, he finally produced a collection, The Conjure Woman (1899), which was well received and subsequently set the tone for a glittering literary career. The House Behind the Cedars is his first novel. This is a fascinating work, thoroughly recommended for anyone interested in the subject of race in American literary history. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions.
The House Behind the Cedars Charles Waddell Chesnutt 9781447459705 Books
Wow! What an interesting book filled with so many coincidences that move the plot along rapidly and keeps the reader sharing the good times and bad times with the main characters. The dictates of society tended to block happiness and forbade love to run its course. The heart-breaking ending still resonates throughout my spirit.Product details
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The House Behind the Cedars Charles Waddell Chesnutt 9781447459705 Books Reviews
I am writing a final paper on this book at the moment. Chestnutt is an important writer, but not one of the best of the period. I don't think he ever got the chance to fully mature as a writer. This book leaves me with a lot of what-ifs and whys. For example, he introduces a nephew to the heroine who appears as though he will be important, but simply drops out of the picture. The book leaves me wondering what he meant to do, and didn't have time for. It is a good read, but rather frustrating.
If you only have time to read one African American classic, I would turn you instead to Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Are Watching God" which is truly amazing!
One of the best novels and novelists of all time. Chesnutt deserves far more credit than he has hitherto, very sadly, been given.
It's possible that I'm missing something, but I didn't find this book engaging or enjoyable. (I'm told that _The Marrow Of Tradition_, also by Chesnutt, is much better.) Chesnutt does do a good job of exaggerating and parodying the tropes of late 1800s sentimental fiction, but the contemporary reader is likely to find these a bit hackneyed. Few if any of the characters are sympathetic, the action seems forced, and the ending is disappointing both literally and thematically. That said, it's unclear that Chesnutt could have ended the book any other way, and there are some subtle details that push against the prevailing mores of the time. Watch especially the conversation between John and Judge Straight, and the comparative lack of retribution for John's life choices as compared to Rena's.
If you're interested in late 1800s stories of race passing by African-American authors that provide a heavy-handed moral, try Frances Harper or Pauline Hopkins (or the other Chesnutt mentioned above, though I haven't read it myself) --- if you want to see this exact same plot arc done so much better (and with the same moral!) in 1850, read Frank J. Webb's _The Garies And Their Friends._
There are plenty of scholarly reasons to read this book, but if you don't have one and are looking for entertainment or personal enlightenment, I'd point you away from this book and toward _The Garies_.
If published today, I would have given this book 3 stars because of the amount of contrivance it contains. But considering that it was first published in 1900, it must be given higher esteem. Historically, the study it provides of being biracial (considered Black then) and able to pass as white in the Carolinas 100 years ago is invaluable to the African American literary canon. The dilemmas faced by this ability are brilliantly portrayed in this book. I was fascinated with the dilemmas whites and "dark-skinned" blacks faced socially when dealing with the Rena and her brother. I especially enjoyed the conversation between her brother John and the town lawyer when John asks him to teach him to become a lawyer - I thought that was the most brilliantly written passage in the book.
Despite the contrivances and that it takes a bit to get into the writer's style, this was a compelling read. Though not especially likeable, the characters are interesting, complex and well-drawn.
I recommend this to anyone interested in the racial history of the South after abolition.
I had to read this book for a Senior Seminar in English and was surprised to find that it was an entertaining read. Granted, one must suspend disbelief in a few places in order to allow for coincidences but what Chesnutt does is something of a pastiche of different writing genres. He also goes to the very limits in portraying the many gradations that existed in the Southern color line.
In truth, most of the characters are not necessarily likeable, but one cannot help turning the pages to see who will do what next. Those who chanced to pass for white were never far from an intrigue of some kind.
This is a fast read as well as an entertaining one, and while Chesnutt plays with many different styles and humors, it is not without historical merit.
Highly recommended for those interested in a post-slavery tale, the the villainy of prejudice, and the unspoken truth about interracial love.
read this book years ago in high school, it was pretty formative on my perception of the post civil war south.
Wow! What an interesting book filled with so many coincidences that move the plot along rapidly and keeps the reader sharing the good times and bad times with the main characters. The dictates of society tended to block happiness and forbade love to run its course. The heart-breaking ending still resonates throughout my spirit.
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