The Marrow of Tradition: A Norton Critical Edition (Norton Critical Editions)

Charles W. Chesnutt is an author we should all know. This novel, while not my favorite story, is a worthy inclusion in a Gilded Age unit in American History, or in any 20th century American Literature unit. I am glad that I have read it. This critical edition is also quite insightful. I think I would like to teach this book in conjunction with a lesson focusing on the role of the Buffalo Soldiers during the Spanish-American War. Note: there are no Buffalo Soldiers in this book, but the period seems to invite such a comparison. It would also be insightful to include references to Booker T. Washington's "shocking" White House dinner with Teddy Roosevelt, as so many parallels exist between these two leaders that can be connected to the racial doubles in The Marrow of Tradition. (And in Roosevelt, is the "in" for your Spanish-American War/Rough Riders/"the Buffalo Soldiers actually made it up San Juan Hill first, people!" connection).

Chestnutt's "Big House" novel shares similaities to Trollope's Irish novel "The Macdermott's of Ballycloron. Both lay within the Realist school. The similarity between the psychological profiles of the landowners and the economically enslaved is similar. Browsing internet photos of the living conditions of Irish tennants in the 1840s suggest similarities to living conditions of African Americans both before and after the War Between the States. And the novel is a fun read.

sent me a book with a total different cover! who knows if the content is the same. Its my text book...I hate it...gave me trouble!