Nigger Heaven

Nigger Heaven
First edition of the text, with original dustwrapper, published in 1926.
Author(s)	Carl Van Vechten
Country	United States
Publisher	Alfred A. Knopf
Publication date	1926
Media type	Hardback

Nigger Heaven is a 1926 novel written by Carl Van Vechten, 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, on the other hand, is a portrayal of life in the "great black walled city" of Harlem. It describes the interactions of intellectuals, political activists, bacchanalian workers, and other Harlem characters. The plot of the novel concerns two people, a quiet librarian and an aspiring writer, who try to keep their love alive as racism denies them every opportunity.

This roman à clef became an instant bestseller and served as an informal pocket guide to Harlem. It also split the black literary community, as some, e.g. Langston Hughes, Nella Larsen, and Wallace Thurman, appreciated it, while others like Countee Cullen, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Alain Locke regarded it as an "affront to the hospitality of black folks". The book fueled a period of "Harlemania", during which the area of Harlem became en vogue among white people, who then frequented its cabarets, bars, and so on.

Background

Title

The title refers to the balconies of 19th century churches, when balconies were reserved for African Americans, as the white members of the congregation sat below.

Reception

The book, due in part to the inclusion of the pejorative, "nigger," in its title, was met with mixed reception. It was initially banned in Boston.^[1] Van Vechten's own father was said to have written his son two letters imploring that he change the title to something less offensive.^[2]

Many early reviews of the novel focused on the seemingly negative portrayal of African-American culture, with its vivid depictions of sex, gambling, alcohol, and other immoral acts.^[3] W. E. B. DuBois attacked the novel in an article published in The Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP upon its publication.^[4] He later addressed the text in depth in an essay titled, On Carl Van Vechten's Nigger Heaven, where he called the novel, "an affront to the hospitality of black folk and to the intelligence of white."^[5]

Conversely, other prominent African-American reviews, such as that of James Weldon Johnson, which appeared in Opportunity, the official journal of the National Urban League, lauded the text. Van Vechten's friend and poet, Langston Hughes would go on to write poems to replace the songs used in the original manuscript and in the first printings of the text.^[6]

Opinions of the novel also diverged along racial lines. Many white critics of the time, largely ignorant of emerging black authors, had little to compare Nigger Heaven to, and viewed the novel as an enlightening, forward-minded text.^[7]

References

1. ^ VanVechten 2000, p. xiii
2. ^ VanVechten 2000, p. xiv-v
3. ^ Worth 1995, p. 464
4. ^ Helbling, Mark (1976). "Carl Van Vechten and the Harlem Renaissance". Negro American Literature Forum 10 (2): 39–47. 
5. ^ Lewis 1995, p. 106
6. ^ Hart, Robert C. (1973). "Literary Relations in the Harlem Renaissance". American Literature 44 (4): 612–28. 
7. ^ Worth 1995, p. 492

Bibliography

• DuBois, W.E.B. (1995). W.E.B. DuBois: A Reader. New York, New York: Henry Holt & Co.. ISBN 0-8050-3264-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=dIimNPIGdm0C&lpg=PR3&dq=W.E.B.%20Du%20Bois%3A%20a%20reader&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q=&f=false. 
• Hart, Robert C. (1973). "Literary Relations in the Harlem Renaissance". American Literature 44 (4): 612–28. 
• Helbling, Mark (1976). "Carl Van Vechten and the Harlem Renaissance". Negro American Literature Forum 10 (2): 39–47. 
• Lewis, David Levering (1995). The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader. New York, New York: Penguin. ISBN 0 14 01.7036 7. 
• Van Vechten, Carl (2000). Nigger Heaven. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-06860-2. 
• Worth, Robert F. (1995). "Nigger Heaven and the Harlem Renaissance". African American Review 29 (3): 461–73. 

External links

• Bookseller's Review
• The PAL Holdings and Commentary on Carl Van Vechten