Charles W. Chestnutts The Marrow of Tradition Essay

Charles W. Chestnutts The Marrow of Tradition Clearly, one can expect differing critical views of a novel; from the authors perspective we see one view, from a publishers another, and from the reviewers yet another. This is especially true of Charles W. Chesnutts The Marrow of Tradition. If one observes both the contemporary reviews of the novel and letters exchanged between Chesnutt and his friends and publisher, Houghton, Mifflin, and Co., one will see the disparity in opinions regarding the work. Chesnutt himself felt the work was of at least good quality, and remarked often of its significant purpose in letters to†¦show more content†¦Reflecting upon the title of this essay, The American People Are Too Sensible to Waste Their Time Upon Such Silly Rot, taken from the review of The Marrow of Tradition by Katherine Glover, it is interesting to note that the novel did receive a certain amount of public success. Chesnutt revealed the popularity of the novel to daughter Ethel in October of its publication year (prior to the reviews cited here). The line from Glovers review is obviously a mean-spirited attack by a racist reviewer, and is ultimately ironic in that it did not accurately depict the sentiments of the reading public. And in a series of letters to Booker T. Washington Chesnutt expresses his belief that the novel has helped him to arrive as a popular novelist. He also notes the probable popularity of the novel in a letter to his publisher in November 1901. All of the reviews presented here, and Chesnutts own letters, bring to light the sometimes apparent gap between what is achieved in the realm of quality and what is achieved in purpose. Clearly, with few exceptions, The Marrow of Tradition was perceived as a purpose novel, one which proposed to uncover the