Du Bois the Novelist: White Influence, Black Spirit, and The Quest of the Silver Fleece

Abstract

W hen writing about a canonical figure, one hopes for a measure of interest. And when writing about a novel by a canonical figure, one might almost assume a willing audience. Even further still, when the novel at hand engages with subtlety the issue of race, it would be a surprise not to encounter an abundance of critical work about that text. But though the presence of Du Bois in literary journals no longer requires justification, and though valuable scholarship has recently treated the question of Du Bois and other minds, we pay his novels scant attention, despite our current occupation with racial politics, intellectual influence, and popular narrative form. Perhaps Du Bois the novelist must wait his turn behind Du Bois the philosopher, historian, and editor. Perhaps The Souls of Black Folk (1903) demands the spot allotted to DuBois on syllabi. But what if the truth is altogether less decorous: What if his novels are not very good? Or, in this time of uncertain aesthetics, what if his novels do not speak to our concerns? Du Bois's first novelistic effort, The Quest of the Silver Fleece (1911), is largely regarded as a failure. The novel, we are told, suffers generic confusion (Rampersad 127). Its contradictory musings are intellectually lax (Kostelanetz 175). Its politics are finally problematic, though Du Bois's progressive intentions are clear (Byerman 128). This article will argue the contrary: that Du Bois's mediation of romance and realism is skillful and strategic; that The Quest of the Silver Fleece engages and challenges major American texts; that, with careful, even subversive, attention to issues of language and form, Du Bois appropriates novelistic discourse for his own artistic and political ends. In short, The Silver Fleece is immensely interesting, not only because it suggests new ways to read Du Bois's work, but also because it reveals