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Books by Marcus Bruce
Christian
Song of the Black Valiants: Marching Tempo
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High Ground: A Collection of Poems /
Negro soldiers in the Battle of New Orleans
I am New
Orleans: A Poem
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Negro Iron Workers of Louisiana: 1718-1900 /
The Liberty Monument
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DN18
Frank
Yerby & Origins of
Foxes of Harrow
September
1, 1948
I
have been upset all day. I have made investigations and
inquiries, and now, after all, I am more confused than ever. I
do not know what to think or whom to blame. . . . I was
searching through the numerous plans and projects in the boxes
in the kitchen when I came upon one folder of unfinished
manuscripts that my wife [Ruth] had arranged in an envelope when
she returned from Chicago in 1945.
Running
through them, they begin to bring back things I had almost
forgotten about, and then I picked up two pages entitled, "An
Antebellum Legend." It was nothing unusual about the paper
as I read it through. The name Harrow arrested me for only a
moment, and knowing the rest of the story which was a part
imagination and a part of my life, I looked at it, wondered when
I had written it, why had I written it and put it aside.
Then
something did not register in the whole thing and I picked up
the paper again. I remember that I had typed it, all right, but
then dates began to assert themselves. Why it had been done?
Probably backtracking on Yerby. I thought, because Miss
Stripling and others had twitted me about the fact that Yerby
was "stealing my thunder." I was probably trying to
satisfy myself that I could do what he had done—capture the
atmosphere that he had gotten into his
prologue in which he had set the tempo of the whole story
of the
Foxes
of Harrow.
I
was thinking that I had probably come in after being twitted and
wrote this to satisfy myself that I, too could catch the eerie,
dank dark atmosphere that was so much a part of Lafcadio Hearn, The
Rubaiyat, Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher, and
the famous Abolitionist Orator's "And this age came to tell
our own that though hand joined in hand, the wicked shall not
prosper."
It
was a type of thing which showed the frailty of the things of
our world when cast against the backdrop of the immutability of
time. But in my mind things were registering confusedly, so when
I picked it up this time I read it to the end. Near the end the
word "Stephen Harrow" caught my attention and held it.
Wasn't that the given name of Yerby's hero? Or was it? I
couldn't remember. . . .
So
dazedly, I still revert to the question: If I wrote the story or
sketch after 1946, how could I do it with a typewriter which I
had given away in about
1944? Furthermore, I know all of the material with which I
have dealt. I had ofttimes wondered why Yerby used such a name
as Harrow—where did he get it from in Louisiana? I do not
recall ever having seen it.
But
in reading the sketch I readily recall that I placed the word
"HARROW" there because of a little trick of covering
up I had employed while on the WPA Writers' program. Move the
person's real name, say six letters down the alphabet, using
this only in regard to the initial letter, and you would thus
disguise it. This name was Barrow. Six letters down and the name
was changed to Harrow.
One
of the Barrow girls, Hallett, played with my older brother, I am
told. they lived on a fine estate about a quarter of a mile from
the home-site that I still hold in the name of my father. The
Mary-Jane of the sketch was probably a close relation of my
grandparents, because I believe that my father told me that we
were third cousins of the present—or rather the present
generation.
My
father told me the story of this proud slave-woman who was very
beautiful, and who spurned the advances of the overseer of the
plantation to which she belonged. This plantation was
probably—no, was the Barrow plantation which then comprised the
entire area of the village in which our home-site is located. I
remember the slave graveyard, and once I went through the slave
graveyard with a small group of playmates—boys roving through
the fields when the cane was cut.
<<---Previous Next--19-->> * *
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Chronicles: Frank Yerby and Marcus Christian
(Carolyn Kolb)
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Then he went off to fight
the great windmill of his life: how he had been unfairly taken
advantage of by wealthy Creole author
Frank
Yerby, whom he felt had stolen the plot for
The Foxes of Harrow from him. He also intimated
that others had used his material without crediting him.
The legend had developed that Christian became reclusive
to prevent further thefts of material or stories. But in
the next breath he told me he had been invited “a few
years ago” to lecture on black history at Tulane and was
interviewed “for hours” with the tape recorder spinning.—"Marcus B. Christian: A Reminiscence and Appreciation" By
Tom Dent
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Frank Garvin Yerby (1916 - 1991) was born in Augusta, Georgia,
the product of an interracial marriage. His parents were
Wilhelmina and Rufus Yerby. His father was African American and
his mother was of European origin. Yerby grew up in Augusta and
attended two local institutions. He graduated from Haines
Institute in 1933. Four years later he earned a second degree
from Paine College. The following year Yerby entered Fisk
University in Nashville where he earned a masters degree. Yerby
began studies toward a doctorate in education from the
University of Chicago but dropped out before obtaining a degree.
Frank Yerby taught briefly at Florida A&M College and later at
Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He later
migrated north, to Dearborn, Michigan where he worked as a
technician at the Ford Motor Company and then to Jamaica, New
York, where he worked in the aviation industry.
Eventually Yerby gained success as an author. His story “Health
Card” won the 1944 O. Henry Memorial Award for best first
published short story of the year. Two years later his first
novel,
The Foxes of Harrow, received critical acclaim.
Yerby would write more than thirty novels over his career. His
best known novel,
The Dahomean, appeared in 1971. His publications sold
more than fifty-five million hardback and paperback books
worldwide, making him one of the most commercially successful
writers of the 20th Century. Yerby’s novels often focused on
strong male heroes but, unusual for the period, often included
characters of various ethnic backgrounds. His complex story
lines, known for their acute sense of history, were also usually
enmeshed in romantic intrigue and violence which seemed to
enhance their popularity.—BlackPast
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Selected Letters
Selected Diary Notes Memories of Marcus B. Christian
(Cains) Christian's
BioBibliographical Record Introduction to I AM NEW
ORLEANS
A
Theory of a Black Aesthetic Magpies,
Goddesses, & Black Male Identity
Activist Works on Next Level of Change
Intro to I Am New
Orleans
Letter from Dillard University
A
Labor of Genuine Love
Letter of Gift of
Photos
Letters from
LSU and Skip Gates * * *
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The Foxes of Harrow
By Frank
Yerby
The story begins with the adventures of the
illegitimate Irish gambler, Stephen Fox. He's worked
his way around Europe and America and has now
settled near New Orleans. He schemes and gambles
until he establishes himself as a wealthy planter,
building the great hall of Harrow. But money doesn't
buy happiness.
He marries local beauty Odalie, but she turns out to
be frigid in bed. After years of going without he
finally takes on a quadroon mistress, Desiree, whose
voice is like a soft, golden gong. Did I mention her
voice is like a soft, golden gong? Mr. Yerby
mentions it several times. Eventually Odalie learns
about Desiree and this causes even more conflict in
the marriage. Both women turn up the heat in the
competition over this man until there's an eventual
tragic end.
The next part of the book takes up with Stephen's
son, Etienne. With Etienne's cruelty to animals and
his disregard for other people's feelings, he has
the classic makings of a serial killer if given half
a chance. He's a totally despicable person who may
get what he deserves when he marries the half-wild
Ceclie. Then at last the Civil War breaks out just
when the book looked like it was losing steam. Yet
we kind of breeze through the war, just touching
upon high points, and before you know it, it's over.
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Western: A Saga of the Great Plains (Yerby)
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Negro Iron Workers of Louisiana: 1718-1900
By Marcus Bruce
Christian
Study of the blacksmith
tradition and New Orleans famous lace
balconies and fences.
Acclaimed during his life as the unofficial
poet laureate of the New Orleans
African-American community, Marcus Christian
recorded a distinguished career as
historian, journalist, and literary scholar.
He was a contributor to Pelican's
Gumbo Ya Ya, and also wrote many
articles that appeared in numerous
newspapers, journals, and general-interest
publications. |
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Audio:
My Story, My Song (Featuring blues guitarist Walter Wolfman Washington)
update 17 April 2010
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