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Rogan: I found a copy of Charles Chesnutt's The Wife of His Youth in a free box a while back, and had no idea the gem I had found.
Charles Chesnutt was a black writer at the turn of the last century who refused to pass for white though he could've; The Wife of His Youth is from 1899, a short story compilation focused mainly on the vagaries of racial passing, the black middle class, and racism from both within the black community and without. Those kinds of stories are of interest to me, and I was like, sure, I'll give it a shot, even though I'm generally not a big fan of 19th century literature.
I am so glad I stretched my tastes, because I loved it. ( An author I'd never heard of, whose work was adapted into film by a filmmaker I'd never heard of, and how I fell in love with both works. )
Charles Chesnutt was a black writer at the turn of the last century who refused to pass for white though he could've; The Wife of His Youth is from 1899, a short story compilation focused mainly on the vagaries of racial passing, the black middle class, and racism from both within the black community and without. Those kinds of stories are of interest to me, and I was like, sure, I'll give it a shot, even though I'm generally not a big fan of 19th century literature.
I am so glad I stretched my tastes, because I loved it. ( An author I'd never heard of, whose work was adapted into film by a filmmaker I'd never heard of, and how I fell in love with both works. )
