Category: gene andrew jarrett

“Rediscovering Frank Yerby” Introduction

If you have been following my blog over the past few years, you have seen a lot of my work on Frank Yerby. That work has led to the publication of Rediscovering Frank Yerby: Critical Essays, a collection of essays that seeks to, as the title says, rediscover and reorient Yerby within the African American and American literary tradition. Pubisher’s Weekly review of the … Read More “Rediscovering Frank Yerby” Introduction

"The Tragedy of Three Forks" and Dialect

Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “The Tragedy of Three Forks” appears in his 1898 short story collection The Strength of Gideon. The story’s narrative involves a woman burning down the house of a rival and blaming the arson on African Americans. The white press runs with the assumption that African Americans committed the crime, captures a group, and lynches them. Thomas L. Morgan speaks about this story, … Read More "The Tragedy of Three Forks" and Dialect

"Who Dat Say Chicken in Dis Crowd"

When most people think about the works of Paul Laurence Dunbar they immediately go straight to his poetry. This is due, partly, to the fact that Dunbar’s poetry typically appears in anthologies while his other works in varying genres remain on the periphery, mentioned in the note about Dunbar’s life but ultimately left out of the anthology itself. This practice makes sense, especially when … Read More "Who Dat Say Chicken in Dis Crowd"