Dark Princess

1st edition (publ. Harcourt Brace)

Dark Princess, written by W. E. B. Du Bois in 1928, is one of Du Bois’ few fiction novels. One of DuBois's favorite pieces,^[1] the novel explores the beauty of people of darker races around the world, an attempt on the author’s part to further legitimize points he strived to make his entire life: that black people, especially in America, are no less citizens than whites and that the richness and beauty of their culture is one celebrated around the world. The novel was not well received upon its publication ^[2] Criticized for its use of eroticism, the novel was also considered by some to represent a failed attempt at social realism.

Structure

The book is divided into four chapters: "The Exile," "The Pullman Porter," "The Chicago Politician," and "The Maharaja of Bwodphur." The sections deal with different stages in the protagonist's life, moving from his self-imposed exile in Germany to his employment as a porter based in New York, then to his career as a politician in Chicago, and his return to Virginia, the land of his birth. While the sections trace the protagonist's growth into a revolutionary figure, they are otherwise largely unconnected.

Plot

The plot follows a character named Matthew Towns, a college student in his junior year at the University of Manhattan studying to be an obstetrician. Early on in the novel, Towns is told that not only is he barred from pursuing his career aspirations; he is not allowed to finish his academic studies. His status as a black American does enough to disqualify him from transcendence into the public world of medicine and from gaining access to caring for white female patients.

Towns is devastated until he makes the acquaintance of Princess Kautilya of Bwodpur, India, a beautiful black woman who reassures Towns of the importance of the history of black people in the world and the importance of their presence and impact of their beauty worldwide. The Princess takes him from his dreary world revolving around a stark color line between races and walks him through a vibrant world of prominent world leaders of color as well as those with negative impacts on the progress of blacks in America – evident by Du Bois’ illustration of Marcus Garvey through his character Perigua.

Their relationship is culminated when they bear a child who by birthright is the Maharajah of Bwodpur, a direct connection to royalty which Matthew Towns had never dreamed achievable for a black American man.

Major themes

DuBois's concerns in this novel seem to be an interest in internationalism, international racial solidarity, and corruptness and violent radicalism in the black American community.

Historical contexts

Some critics believe that the book was inspired by the 1911 First Universal Race Congress in London, which DuBois attended.^[3]

References

1. ^ Amazon. "Dark Princess". Dark Princess. http://www.amazon.com/dp/087805765X. Retrieved 24 February 2011. 
2. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=IUmA3EpKPPIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=dark+princess&hl=en&ei=Ydt-Tf3OJcuDtwfO9-zECA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false.
3. ^ "First Universal Race Congress 1911". First Universal Race Congress 1911. http://www.webdubois.org/db1stUnivRaceCongr%28TAM-1911%29.html. Retrieved 24 February 2011.