The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man (Thrift Editions) - Softcover

Johnson, James Weldon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 048628512X ISBN 13: 9780486285122

Publisher: Dover Publications Inc, 2000

Synopsis

This remarkable novel documents the life of an American of mixed ethnicity who moves freely in society ― from the rural South to the urban North and eventually, Europe. A revolutionary work which not only probes the psychological aspects of "passing for white" but also examines the American caste and class system.

About this title

From the Back Cover

One of the most prominent African-Americans of his time, James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) was a successful lawyer, educator, social reformer, songwriter, and critic. But it was as a poet and novelist that he achieved lasting fame.
Among his most famous works, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man in many ways parallels Johnson's own remarkable life. First published in 1912, the novel relates, through an anonymous narrator, events in the life of an American of mixed ethnicity whose exceptional abilities and ambiguous appearance allow him unusual social mobility--from the rural South to the urban North and eventually to Europe.
This pioneering work not only probes the psychological aspects of "passing for white" but also examines the American caste and class system. The human drama is powerful and revealing--from the narrator's persistent battles with personal demons to his firsthand observations of a Southern lynching and the mingling of races in New York's bohemian atmosphere at the turn of the century.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dover Publications Inc
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 048628512X
• ISBN 13: 9780486285122
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 112