Eric Walrond: A Life in the Harlem Renaissance and the Transatlantic Caribbean
James Davis
Abstract
This book profiles Eric Walrond (1898–1966), the writer, journalist, and critic, whose short story collection, Tropic Death, was one of the first efforts by a black author to depict Caribbean lives and voices in American fiction. It restores Walrond to his proper place as a luminary of the Harlem Renaissance, situates Tropic Death within the author's broader corpus, and positions the work as a catalyst and driving force behind the New Negro literary movement in America. The book follows Walrond from the West Indies to Panama, New York, France, and finally England. It recounts his relationships ... More
This book profiles Eric Walrond (1898–1966), the writer, journalist, and critic, whose short story collection, Tropic Death, was one of the first efforts by a black author to depict Caribbean lives and voices in American fiction. It restores Walrond to his proper place as a luminary of the Harlem Renaissance, situates Tropic Death within the author's broader corpus, and positions the work as a catalyst and driving force behind the New Negro literary movement in America. The book follows Walrond from the West Indies to Panama, New York, France, and finally England. It recounts his relationships with New Negro authors such as Countée Cullen, Charles S. Johnson, Zora Neale Hurston, Alain Locke, and Gwendolyn Bennett, as well as the white novelist Carl Van Vechten. It also highlights Walrond's involvement with Marcus Garvey's journal Negro World and the National Urban League journal, Opportunity, and examines the writer's work for mainstream titles, including Vanity Fair. The book also shows how, in 1929, Walrond severed ties with Harlem, but did not disappear. It explains that he went on to contribute to the burgeoning anti-colonial movement and print culture centered in England and fueled by C. L. R. James, George Padmore, and other Caribbean expatriates.
Keywords:
Eric Walrond,
Tropic Death,
West Indies,
Panama,
New York,
France,
Countée Cullen,
Charles Johnson,
Gwendolyn Bennett,
Carl Van Vechten
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2015 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780231157841 |
| Published to Columbia Scholarship Online: November 2015 |
DOI:10.7312/columbia/9780231157841.001.0001 |
