‘A writer of huge compassion and acute observation, and also of dazzling style . . . Her work is more relevant than ever’ DIANA EVANS
An incredible collection of writing – both essays and short stories – spanning the long career of Dorothy West. Includes a new introduction by Diana Evans.
‘West’s work is timelessly cinematic, with painterly visual descriptions and pitch-perfect dialogue that ranges across class, region, race, age, and gender’ Emma Garman, Paris Review
The stories contained here are as American as jazz, and as wise and multifaceted as their writer. Dorothy West’s metier is the unique crucible in which America places its black middle class, but her themes are universal: the daily misunderstandings between young and old, men and women, rich and poor that can lead to tragedy; and the ways in which bonds of family and community can bring us together, and tear us asunder.
Dorothy West’s autobiographical essays explore the poles of her remarkable life – from growing up black and middle-class in Boston to her near-mythic trip to Moscow in 1933 with Langston Hughes and other Harlem Renaissance writers to life on her beloved Martha’s Vineyard. They cohere into a beautiful and poignant memoir of a singular American life, a memoir that communicates with her short stories in a host of fertile ways. Taken as a whole, The Richer, The Poorer is a triumphant celebration of the long life and work of one of America’s genuine treasures.
An incredible collection of writing – both essays and short stories – spanning the long career of Dorothy West. Includes a new introduction by Diana Evans.
‘West’s work is timelessly cinematic, with painterly visual descriptions and pitch-perfect dialogue that ranges across class, region, race, age, and gender’ Emma Garman, Paris Review
The stories contained here are as American as jazz, and as wise and multifaceted as their writer. Dorothy West’s metier is the unique crucible in which America places its black middle class, but her themes are universal: the daily misunderstandings between young and old, men and women, rich and poor that can lead to tragedy; and the ways in which bonds of family and community can bring us together, and tear us asunder.
Dorothy West’s autobiographical essays explore the poles of her remarkable life – from growing up black and middle-class in Boston to her near-mythic trip to Moscow in 1933 with Langston Hughes and other Harlem Renaissance writers to life on her beloved Martha’s Vineyard. They cohere into a beautiful and poignant memoir of a singular American life, a memoir that communicates with her short stories in a host of fertile ways. Taken as a whole, The Richer, The Poorer is a triumphant celebration of the long life and work of one of America’s genuine treasures.
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Reviews
A collection of 17 short stories and 13 essays sure to secure her reputation as a master of the shorter forms. Though this small volume might appear to be two books in one, the 30 pieces create a singular vision . . . West's world is the world of black people reaching for the American dream in the wake of slavery and often finding themselves betrayed (or betraying themselves) in their struggle to conform to standards that are only half theirs . . . the best of these stories sink into the mind like a perfect piece of homemade fudge melting on the tongue - pure pleasure, pure impact. And the nonfiction pieces are just as good
West writes like a social historian, capturing significant moments that seem to alter lives forever or change nothing at all
A writer of huge compassion and acute observation, and also of dazzling style . . . Her work is more relevant than ever
West's work is timelessly cinematic, with painterly visual descriptions and pitch-perfect dialogue that ranges across class, region, race, age, and gender
Unforced perfection . . . beautifully cadenced. West has shown the power of what is left unspoken
