A look at some lesser-known works by Paul Laurence Dunbar

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By Vick Mickunas, Contributing Writer 5:27 PM Friday, February 26, 2010

“The Collected Novels of Paul Laurence Dunbar” Edited by Herbert Woodward Martin, Ronald Primeau and Gene Andrew Jarrett (Ohio University Press, 392 pages, $55).

This is the last day of Black History Month. Today I’m looking back at some lesser known works by the greatest poet to ever come out of Dayton, Paul Laurence Dunbar. In June 1896, Dunbar’s poetry first got noticed by a wider audience. A prominent critic gave Dunbar’s second collection of poetry a rave review in Harper’s magazine.

Dunbar was in his early 20s when he became America’s best known black poet. He only lived for another 10 years but during that time, Dunbar produced a tremendous volume of poetry and short stories. He also wrote four novels.

These novels tend to be somewhat obscured by the fact that Dunbar is mostly remembered as a fine poet. Had he lived longer perhaps he might have been better remembered as a novelist as well. He was just getting started with his novels.

Ohio University Press recently issued a collection of the Dunbar novels together for the first time in one volume. Herb Martin, the University of Dayton’s poet in residence, was one of the editors of this collection. If you have had the pleasure of hearing one of Martin’s recitations, then you might know the magic Dunbar wrought with his poetry.

This collection shows that he was on his way to becoming a great novelist when he died in 1906. The novels were written when Dunbar was in his 20s. The first three —“The Uncalled,” “The Love of Landry,” and “The Fanatics” — reveal an artist learning the novelistic ropes.

His last novel was “The Sport of the Gods.” This story marks a surging mastery of form and style when compared to the earlier works. It is a dark tale about injustice and broken lives. Dunbar tells it with conviction and realism.

As “The Sport of the Gods” begins, a southern city has been slowly recovering from the ravages of the Civil War that ended twenty years before. And for 20 years, the former slave Berry Hamilton has been the trusted butler for the family of Maurice Oakley, a former slave owner.

One day, a large sum of money vanishes and the butler falls under suspicion. Twenty years of trust cannot prevent a great injustice. Berry ends up in prison.

His wife, son and daughter depart for New York and new lives. Dunbar maps out this conjoined devastation for both families. There is no redemption to be found. He depicts how one injustice has ruined them all. Dunbar forges some clanking lines for a bombastic racist who declares that “the North thought they were doing a great thing when they come down here and freed all the slaves ...but I maintain that they were all wrong, now, in turning these people loose upon the country the way they did, without knowledge of what the first principle of liberty was. The natural result is that these people are irresponsible.”

Today we remember Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Contact book reviewer Vick Mickunas at vick@vickmickunas.com

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