Cosmopolitanism in the Fictive Imagination of W. E. B. Du Bois
Toward the Humanization of a Revolutionary Art
By (author) Samuel O. Doku
Publication date:
31 October 2017Length of book:
220 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksISBN-13: 9781498518338
This book traces W.E.B. Du Bois’s fictionalization of history in his five major works of fiction and in his debut short story The Souls of Black Folk through a thematic framework of cosmopolitanism. In texts like The Negro and Black Folk: Then and Now, Du Bois argues that the human race originated from a single source, a claim authenticated by anthropologists and the Human Genome Project. This book breaks new ground by demonstrating the fashion in which the variants of cosmopolitanism become a profound theme in Du Bois’s contribution to fiction. In general, cosmopolitanism claims that people belong to a single community informed by common moral values, function through a shared economic nomenclature, and are part of political systems grounded in mutual respect. This book addresses Du Bois’s works as important additions to the academy and makes a significant contribution to literature by first demonstrating the way in which fiction could be utilized in discussing historical accounts in order to reach a global audience. “The Coming of John”, The Quest of the Silver Fleece, Dark Princess: A Romance, and The Black Flame, an important trilogy published sequentially as The Ordeal of Mansart, Mansart Builds a School, and Worlds of Color are grounded in historical occurrences and administer as social histories providing commentary on Reconstruction, Jim Crow segregation, African American leadership, school desegregation, the Pan-African movement, imperialism, and colonialism in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.
Noted primarily as a sociologist, a historian, a journalist, an essayist, and a civil rights activist, Du Bois (1868–1963) also wrote fiction, in it demonstrating his leadership in the genre of revolutionary art. In examining Du Bois, Doku artfully exposes the historical exigencies of imperialism, colonialism, segregation, and injustice, primarily in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. The first half of the book (which derives from Doku's doctoral dissertation) concentrates on two major historical novels—The Quest of the Silver Fleece (1911) and Dark Princess (1928)—in which Du Bois explores the possibility of overcoming systemic racism. The second half gives a historical and practical account of Pan-Africanism and global recognition of human rights. The author looks at the historical, political, and sociological implications of cosmopolitanism as the ultimate political and moral goal of humanity. An original contribution to Africana studies and the sociology of diaspora, this book offers a genuinely interdisciplinary analysis of Du Bois’s literary fiction. The book ends with a panegyric on President Barack Obama. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above.