C. W. Chesnutt, The Wife of His Youth

Joshua Robinson (University of Akron)

Ed. by Patrick Chura, University of Akron
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.5: African American Writing and Culture of the United States.
Vol. editors: Philathia Bolton (University of Akron), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), A Yemisi Jimoh (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1899

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story Collection

Resources

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Charles W. Chesnutt’s “The Wife of His Youth”, first published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1898, represents its author’s conscious attempt to satirize America’s race-obsessed society by bringing “the mulatto’s special case to the forefront” (Sowards). Though a similar purpose informs the larger collection, The Wife of his Youth and other Stories of the Color Line, published the following year, “The Wife of His Youth” has proven capable of standing on its own as a manifesto of Black American identity. Widely anthologized and frequently studied in university courses, the complex and dramatic story has become a touchstone of U.S. social history and an essential work in the African American literary canon.

The story also marks a turn in Chesnutt’s career, a departure from

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2310 words

Citation: Robinson, Joshua. "The Wife of His Youth". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 August 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8155, accessed 03 December 2023.]

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