Reconsidering Aesthetics and Ideology in Carlene Hatcher Polite’s The Flagellants

Abstract

Carlene Hatcher Polite’s The Flagellants went out of print soon after its release in 1967; attempts at its revival, following a 1987 reprint, failed to assert its place in American literary study. A non-linear narrative, chronicling the disintegrating relationship of two African American New York City transplants, The Flagellants offers a mixture of ideological commentaries—on patriarchy, women writers, and nationalism. In its time, it was a difficult novel to take. But as this article reveals, the novel’s difficulty did not lie in its depictions, but in how it challenged interpretations of its ideological position. This article uncovers how such an inventive novel was disallowed from leaving its impact on historical understandings of its time. The story of The Flagellants ’ disappearance emerges from historicizing the Black Arts Movement, in which it was read in 1967. This examination illuminates why, even today, the novel is rarely found in academic writing or on college syllabi.