Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird
On the 150th anniversary of his birth a definitive new biography of a pivotal figure in American literary history.
Available at: Amazon Barnes & Noble Bookshop.org
What people are saying!
"A definitive biography of Dunbar."
—New York Times
"A meticulously crafted biography. . . . [Paul Laurence Dunbar is 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 detailed, empathetic biography of African American writer Paul Laurence Dunbar. . . . Jarrett offers astute readings of all of Dunbar’s works. . . . Impressive research."
—Kirkus Reviews starred review
"A pioneering Black poet battles racism and his inner demons in this incisive biography . . . . An insightful, vividly written portrait of Black political and literary culture at the turn of the 20th century, and probes [Dunbar's] alcoholism, gambling, and violent tendencies. The result is a fascinating exploration of Black creativity wrestling with social constraints and personal failings."
—Publishers Weekly
"This new biography does a thorough and compelling job in telling the story of a remarkable and partially tragic life."
—David Mehegan, Arts Fuse
Overview
A major poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906) was one of the first African American writers to garner international recognition in the wake of emancipation. In this definitive biography, the first full-scale life of Dunbar in half a century, Gene Andrew Jarrett offers a revelatory account of a writer whose Gilded Age celebrity as the “poet laureate of his race” hid the private struggles of a man who, in the words of his famous poem, felt like a “caged bird” that sings.
Jarrett tells the fascinating story of how Dunbar, born during Reconstruction to formerly enslaved parents, excelled against all odds to become an accomplished and versatile artist. A prolific and successful poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, and Broadway librettist, he was also a friend of such luminaries as Frederick Douglass and Orville and Wilbur Wright. But while audiences across the United States and Europe flocked to enjoy his literary readings, Dunbar privately bemoaned shouldering the burden of race and catering to minstrel stereotypes to earn fame and money. Inspired by his parents’ survival of slavery, but also agitated by a turbulent public marriage, beholden to influential benefactors, and helpless against his widely reported bouts of tuberculosis and alcoholism, he came to regard his racial notoriety as a curse as well as a blessing before dying at the age of only thirty-three.
Beautifully written, meticulously researched, and generously illustrated, this biography presents the richest, most detailed, and most nuanced portrait yet of Dunbar and his work, transforming how we understand the astonishing life and times of a central figure in American literary history.