Gene Andrew Jarrett is Dean of the Faculty and William S. Tod Professor of English at Princeton University. He is the author of Representing the Race: A New Political History of African American Literature and Deans and Truants: Race and Realism in African American Literature. He is also the coeditor of The Collected Novels of Paul Laurence Dunbar and The Complete Stories of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Website geneandrewjarrett.com Twitter @GeneJarrett
"One of ESSENCE'S 55 New Books We Can't Wait to Read"
"A New Yorker Best Book of the Year"
"A Book Riot Best Biography of the Year"
"Winner of the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism"
"A book that pulls you along like an open bag of potato chips; for
the first 100 or so pages, I could barely put it down."---John
McWhorter, New York Times
"Drawing on Dunbar’s sizable correspondence with friends, family,
and benefactors, Jarrett illustrates his struggle to reconcile his
professional success with a sense of himself as a failure—an errant
husband, an alcoholic, and, above all, a Black artist who couldn’t
liberate his community from racial stereotypes."
*The New Yorker*
"A raw, unadulterated portrait of the writer’s short yet full life.
. . . It offers immense detail and newly discovered
information."---Vesper North, Los Angeles Review of Books
"A meticulously crafted biography. . . . [A] thorough and eminently
readable account of Black genius."---Omari Weekes, Vulture
"Fascinating and beautifully written. . . . It’s an intimate
portrait of a complex and complicated literary figure who deserves
more recognition."---Keisha N. Blain, Politico
"A pioneering Black poet battles racism and his inner demons in
this incisive biography. . . . Jarrett situates his analysis of
Dunbar’s ambitious, sometimes prickly intellect innan insightful,
vividly written portrait of Black political and literary culture at
the turn of the 20th century, and probes his subject’s alcoholism,
gambling, and violent tendencies. The result is a fascinating
exploration of Black creativity wrestling with social constraints
and personal failings."
*Publishers Weekly*
"A detailed, empathetic biography. . . . Jarrett offers astute
readings of all of Dunbar’s works. . . . Impressive research."
*Kirkus Reviews starred review*
"This is one of those classic biographies that I think readers will
just love diving into. Rich in detail and nuance, it drops readers
into Dunbar’s life and times, offering a fascinating look at both
the literary and personal life of this great American poet."
*Book Riot*
"This new biography does a thorough and compelling job in telling
the story of a remarkable and partially tragic life."---David
Mehegan, Arts Fuse
"We are indebted to Jarrett for elevating Dunbar’s voice back to
the place of prominence it should hold in literary history."
*The American*
"[A] definitive biography. . . .Indispensable and
judicious."---Douglas A. Jones Jr, Times Literary Supplement
"Magnificent. . . . [Paul Laurence Dunbar] should be praised not
just for the work that it is, but for the work that it will usher
in. [Jarrett] has cleared the path for Dunbar scholarship."---Jamie
Fenton, American Nineteenth Century History
"Jarrett has contributed significantly to African American literary
studies with this meticulous account of the writer’s life. . . .
Scholars will continue to learn from Jarrett’s authoritative
biography of Dunbar for decades to come."---Nadia Nurhussein,
American Literary History
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