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Thread: US short stories 1945-50 with black character written by WHITE authors

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    US short stories 1945-50 with black character written by WHITE authors

    Hi there,
    please help.
    I'm writing a thesis on the portrayal of the Afro-Americans in short stories by WHITE authors in post WWII America.
    Find few (The Geranium; The Other Foot; After You, My Dear Alphonso; Blue Melody), there's got to be more and I wonder can you come up with more?
    Just generally from this period- I'll check the year it got published. Any Idea is welcomed
    The black character doesn't have to be the main one. It just got to be written by an white author.
    If anyone knows some site/book re this topic I would greatly appreciated it too.
    Thanks in advance
    J
    Last edited by porphyria; 03-28-2013 at 01:02 PM.

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    Registered User kev67's Avatar
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    I seem to remember Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote had some very minor black characters. One was an African, who was being talked about by another character. One was another woman in the apartment block in which Holly Golightly lived (I think she was black). Another was actually a Japanese man, who also lived in the block. I see the book was published in 1958, so outside your range, although the story was set during the second world war. My book also contained three other short stories, one of which was about a black woman, but she lived in Cuba or the Dominican Republic or some place like that. Maybe Truman Capote is worth investigating.
    According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
    Charles Dickens, by George Orwell

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    I didn't like Truman Capote because he saw the crimes "in cold blood," while criminals always seemed to me to be utterly furious and with a blood just short of allusion to plasma.

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    I was thinking Patricia Highsmith of the Ripley series but then realized you meant black as in physically black and , well , I just don't know. I guess I'm colorblind like that.

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    Registered User maxphisher's Avatar
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    James Baldwin - "Sonny's Blues"

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    Thanks guys.
    Sonny's Blues- too late for me, would be great though.
    Did research on Capote and find "Children on Their Birthdays" (1949)
    Yeah, black characters as in the color of their skin's black- for some reason I don't like the term African Americans- we all came from Africa some sooner some later:-))
    It's kind of hard to come up with some black characters- unless the story specifically deals with racism- plus most of them are pretty minor:/
    Looking forward some more...
    Cheers
    J

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    Left 4evr Adolescent09's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by maxphisher View Post
    James Baldwin - "Sonny's Blues"
    James Baldwin is black. Great author, though .
    My hide hides the heart inside

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    Registered User maxphisher's Avatar
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    Yeaaaahhhhh, I'm going to have to start reading the full titles of these threads. Honestly, I just finished reading it again the other day, and I have had a tough time getting the last few pages out of my head. Pure brilliance. I saw "short story" and "black character," and jumped on it.

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    Lost in the Fog PabloQ's Avatar
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    First name to leapt to mind when reading this post is Flannery O'Connor. I'm not sure when each of her stories were written but her career started within this date range.
    Also, I'd look at Faulkner and see what he wrote during this period. There might be something there.
    No damn cat, no damn cradle - Newt Honniker

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    Registered User Jassy Melson's Avatar
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    William Faulkner wrote a number of short stories in the late forties and early fifties that contain black characters.
    Dostoevsky gives me more than any scientist.

    Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. - Albert Einstein

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