Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray
My colleague Erica Ezeifedi has a great write-up of this book over at In the Club, which you should read, and I almost decided not to read Harlem Rhapsody when Erica made clear that the affair between Fauset and W.E.B. Du Bois takes center stage. I find stories about affairs exhausting and infuriating—they’re usually not my jam. However, because I was so obviously behind in my knowledge of Fauset and wanted to get to know someone who was so integral to the success of authors whose books remain important to me and many others to this day, I decided to get over it and get into it.
Well, no lies were told. The affair was a significant part of the book, and I struggled with how Du Bois treated Fauset and how Fauset returned to him again and again. I might as well have been breathing over Fauset’s mom’s shoulder, rooting her on while she delivered real-talk about this doomed relationship to her lovelorn grown daughter. I wanted someone to give Du Bois a talking to. Still, I was so enthralled by the picture of 1920s Harlem, dazzling with the creativity of the Black artists and creatives who gave the time such a fitting name. The authors Fauset “birthed” as their insightful and incisive editor, mentor, and writing partner are so much a part of the Western literary canon (whether or not they get listed as such), I never imagined them as uncertain young people with great potential until I read this book. It really is a wonder that this one woman saw that potential, made power moves, and walked them down the avenue toward success at a time when African Americans had so little opportunity and faced racist gatekeeping in publishing. It’s also a wonder how much she accomplished as the literary editor of The Crisis, the NAACP magazine founded by Du Bois. It makes me deeply sad that Fauset isn’t as much of a household name after all she did—the woman wrote a successful book I had never heard of!—and I am deeply appreciative to Victoria Christopher Murray for bringing her back into the light where she belongs.
Also, Erica was so right to point out that this is the best book club book of the year so far. I mean, THE DISH: Fauset and Du Bois running around New York and Paris like a pair of love birds, the power dynamics, work and family drama, the lives of literary icons, the glory and the mess? Come on.