Make bullet points for the main idea
ARNOLD RAMPERSAD
formal Karmal simplicity of the hunter gives way to a Du Bois Writing in The World and Africt just after World War IⅡ In the late nineteenth century, DuB complica
dective of western culture the fact that "art, in building, painting and the fent Literature became realistic and dis was written when he was very close to literature, beca came pessimistic" it is communism, tof his alert and committed to action. Art and pessimism thisttitudes toward fiction during the greater part become politically al for him, incompatible if art were to succeed. All art, he said in v attacking the "art for art's sake" movement among certain black propaganda and black art must be propaganda "for gaining the nes black folk to love and enjoy." But his purpose was in such a crude statement. It was "the bounden duty create, preserve, and realize "Beauty" for America, for the aim of an political struggle was not black power in isolation but reconstructed universe. The tools in and must be, edusid, truth one great vehicle the creation of broader than is of black writem app Americe philosophic beauty had always b imagination of universal understanding"; and goodness, "in all of an ethical sanctionn interest." Thus D aspects of justice, honor and right-not for sake and of gaining sympathy human the one true method of Bois went on, "the apostle of Beauty.. becomes the apostle of Truth and Right not by choice but by inner and outer compulsion." genre intra which is w way he id The conciton life, or
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would, asa ht not levens such as Truth and Beauty and Right are vague enough us to miss the order of the process Du Bois is describing, but the significant; indeed, they also suggest quaint ways in which he signifing writer, oppose realism. In both erwartet tehes Flece and D Princes (but not in The Black Flame decades after the most terribly stilte Angunge surfaces during decisive emotional or philosophical moments, and appears in the midst of otherwise conventionally mimetic dialogue and narration that show Du Bois to have some definite ability-not mere potential-as a novelist. But the failings of his work are there; though one finds depth of characterization in both novels, many more of the performers are types of humanity rather than creations credible outside of their ideological burden in the particular piece. There is, too, a fair amount of what one must regard as melodramatic and unsatisfying effects, notably in the end of Dark Princess, where a typical masque-like scene, replete with symbolism, supplants the otherwise sober auditing of the account. Such effects represent Du Bois's conscious choices as an artist, and it would be a mistake to consider them other than bad choices. They were, however, generated by his philosophy of art and by the fact that there was but one
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asWE.B. Du Bois as a Man of Literature
genre into which his story could fit. That genre was not finally the novel. which is what he called Quest of the Silver Fleece, or the romance, which is the way he identified Dark Princess, but the epice Epic in more than one sense-but literally so, in that the mature Du 85
Bois fiction is the grg (black) ious story, recited in at times too loft nature Du Boguage, of a young (black) mascof quality embarking on the most per and journeys within hired landscape, on the success of which det perilous of ice salvation of his race or nation salvation on a relatively depends the Quest of the Silver fort, was tworldwide scale in Dark Princess will scale in Du Bois to the eni chat was that ecstatic optimism with which what drove end, an optim to his writing dividend of his awakened political endsciousness. Applied to his writing, this optimism was compounded by his nostalgia for a vanished innocence within both a mythic Africa and humanity as a whole, by his sense of the potential of Africans and all hundityanity finally by his sense of the history of the world as the history of process. This sense enabled Du Bois to share vicariously in the intellectual and social homogeneity out of which the epic first sprang. The realism to which Du Bois objected was close to that of such writers
as Zola, the earlier Dreiser, and Frank Norris-and the differences between his sense of the epic and theirs is considerable. Their pessimism is formally exemplified in their worship of the fact, the detail, the superficial information of "that harsh, blunt, colorless tool called realism," as Norris himself put it in attempting to transcend its limitations. Du Bois had not turned his back on statistical sociology in order to create art based on accepting the surface as the substance of things; his politics did not allow him to be pessimistic; and his understanding of history and society diverted him-though not always from those fallacies of naturalism and supernaturalism by which other writers complicated their art but betrayed their philosophical helplessness. Nor could he develop a highly symbolic art which would reflect a contemplative attitude to a mysterious universe and thus deflect the epic thrust of his socially centered narrative. There are two looming symbols in his first novel-cotton (the silver fleece of the title) and a great swamp. The swamp stands for the immoral pas of the preliterate black; the best cotton grows where the swamp has been cleared, a task that requires unity and character on the part of the black foll Thus literally one symbol is a transcendence of the other, and because th cotton is stripped of its monetary and inhuman significance and reidentifi with human work and thought and character, it carries within itself as a symb the force of its own self-transcendence, since its power as a symbol deri from its part in the world of human action.
The major formal tension in Du Bois's fiction, and the source o major shortcomings, arises from the crucial relationship of the narratio
- ARNOLD RAMPERSAD
- Du Bois's views on art and literature
- The role of propaganda in black art
- Du Bois's purpose in creating literature
- The connection between beauty, truth, and goodness in Du Bois's work
- The genre of Du Bois's fiction
- The failings of Du Bois's work
- Du Bois's sense of optimism and nostalgia in his writing
- Du Bois's opposition to realism and naturalism
- The symbolism in Du Bois's novels
- The major formal tension in Du Bois's fiction
- The narrative style in Du Bois's writing
More
- Du Bois's philosophy of art and its influence on his writing
- Du Bois's criticism of "art for art's sake" movement in black literature
- The depth of characterization in Du Bois's novels
- The presence of melodramatic and unsatisfying effects in Du Bois's work
- The genre of Du Bois's fiction as the epic
- Du Bois's nostalgic and optimistic outlook on humanity and history
- Du Bois's rejection of pessimism in his writing
- The symbolism of cotton and the great swamp in Du Bois's first novel
- The tension between narration and characterization in Du Bois's fiction
- The significance of unity and character in Du Bois's portrayal of the black community.
More.
- The influence of Western culture on Du Bois's writing style
- Du Bois's advocacy for the use of literature as a tool for political change
- Du Bois's belief in the power of art to create a reconstructed universe
- The role of Du Bois as both an artist and a political activist
- Du Bois's emphasis on the ethical and philosophical aspects of justice, honor, and right in his work
- Du Bois's concept of literature as a vehicle for universal understanding and sympathy
- The significance of Du Bois's use of language in his novels
- The impact of Du Bois's journalism background on his fiction writing
- Du Bois's exploration of African and African-American history and culture in his novels
- The themes of identity, race, and social justice in Du Bois's writing
- The reception and legacy of Du Bois as a man of literature.
Simplify
- Du Bois's philosophy of art and literature
- Du Bois's use of propaganda in black art
- Du Bois's purpose in creating literature
- The genre of Du Bois's fiction
- The symbolism in Du Bois's novels
- The tension in Du Bois's writing
- Du Bois's optimistic and nostalgic outlook on humanity and history
- Du Bois's rejection of pessimism in his writing
- The influence of Western culture on Du Bois's style
- Du Bois's emphasis on ethics and philosophy in his work
- The role of language in Du Bois's novels
- Du Bois's exploration of African and African-American history in his fiction
- The themes of identity, race, and social justice in Du Bois's writing
Ok more
- Du Bois's advocacy for literature as a tool for political change
- The depiction of the black community in Du Bois's novels
- The characterization in Du Bois's work
- The portrayal of race and social issues in Du Bois's writing
- The reception and legacy of Du Bois as a literary figure
- The influence of Du Bois's journalism background on his fiction
- The exploration of African and African-American culture in Du Bois's novels
- The representation of historical events in Du Bois's fiction
- The impact of Du Bois's writing on later generations of writers
- The significance of Du Bois's use of language and narrative style
- The themes of justice, honor, and right in Du Bois's work
- The influence of Du Bois's philosophy and activism on his literary output
- The relevance of Du Bois's ideas on art and literature in today's context.