Charles Chesnutt Reappraised

<p> One of the best known and most widely read of early African American writers Charles W. Chesnutt published more than fifty short stories six novels two plays a biography of Frederick Douglass and countless essays poems letters journals and speeches. Though he had light skin and was of mixed race Chesnutt self-identified as a black man and his writing was often boldly political openly addressing problems of racial identity and injustice in the late 19th century.</p><p> This collection of critical essays reevaluates the Chesnutt legacy introducing new scholarship reflective of the many facets of his fiction especially his sophisticated narrative strategies.</p>