Jean-Christophe Cloutier - Shadow Archives: The Lifecycles of African American Literature

Shadow Archives

Shadow Archives

The Lifecycles of African
American Literature

JeanChristophe Cloutier

Columbia University Press / New York

Columbia University Press

Publishers Since 1893

New York Chichester, West Sussex

cup.columbia.edu

Copyright 2019 Columbia University Press

All rights reserved

E-ISBN 978-0-231-55024-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cloutier, Jean-Christophe, author.

Title: Shadow archives : the lifecycles of African American literature / Jean-Christophe Cloutier.

Description: New York : Columbia University Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019006299 (print) | LCCN 2019011302 (ebook) | ISBN 9780231193306 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780231193313 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: American literatureAfrican American authorsHistory and critcism. | American literature20th centuryInformation resources. | American literature20th centuryResearchMethodology. | African AmericansIntellectual life20th century.

Classification: LCC PS153.N5 (ebook) | LCC PS153.N5 C53 2019 (print) | DDC 810.9/896073dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019006299

A Columbia University Press E-book.

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Cover image: Background photograph courtesy of the Samuel Roth estate.

Cover design: Lisa Hamm

Aime, et au tout petit qui sen vient

I have not hesitated to use words which are old, and in some circles considered poetically overworked and dead, when I thought I could make them glow alive by new manipulation.

Claude Mckay, Harlem Shadows

In approaching our subject with the sensibilities of statisticians and dissectionists, we distance ourselves increasingly from the marvelous and spell-binding planet of imagination whose gravity drew us to our studies in the first place. This is not to say that we should cease to establish facts and to verify our information, but merely to suggest that unless those facts can be imbued with the flash of poetic insight then they remain dull gems; semi-precious stones scarcely worth the collecting.

Daniel Dreiberg, Blood from the Shoulder of Pallas

CONTENTS

A s is typical of anything related to archives, this book has seen its lifecycle delayed, accelerated, flatline, and resurrected a number of times over the many years of its gestation. Without the assistance and support of a great many individuals and collectives, it would surely have remained in the depths of the backlog, left to mutely utter its own cry of terror alongside the counterfactual chimeras swarming in the bizarro world. Now that it has chosen its form and emerged at last, it is time to offer some well-deserved expressions of gratitude.

Departing from convention, let me begin and end by thanking my partner in crime and in life, Beth Blum, for all things must begin and end with her, my Alpha and Omega. Without her ceaseless support and love, this book would never have had a chance.

Somewhat like the secret agent in William Burroughss novel The Soft Machine , this book seems to have originally been made of UT, undifferentiated tissueit grew yet stubbornly refused to assume its final form. Shades of what it eventually became were first manifested at Columbia University during my doctoral research. I took my first trip to the Library of Congress in 2008in a broken-down Chinatown bus that had more than three inches of water caught between the windowpanes next to my seatto consult the Ralph Ellison Papers, a dream I had nursed since my undergrad days at Concordia in Montral. Thats when I got the fever. And the only prescription was and remains more archives. I could not have asked for a better Virgil, as a guide and mentor through this perilous quest among the papers of the dead, than Brent Hayes Edwards, gentleman-scholar and academic superhero. Little did we know, back in the summer of 2009 when I stumbled upon Claude McKays typescript of Amiable with Big Teeth , that we would end up working together for the better part of a decade trying to get the book to publication. Brent, I guess its safe to say it now: I found the novel only as a con to force you to spend more time with me. Thank you for always pushing me to go beyond my limits, even when I thought it was hopeless. And thank you for the countless ways you have been a friend to me throughout this journey.

My time at Columbia was further sustained by the steady, inspirational presence of Bob OMeally, who threw me fastballs when I needed them and curve balls when I least expected them. Our sessions in his office with Ellisons trusty Websters New International Dictionary , second edition, opened between us are among my fondest memories. Rounding out my committee was Maura Spiegel, kindness personified, a holy presence who offered friendship and understanding at a time when the universe seemed on the brink of collapse. I am also grateful for the experience of serving on the board of advisers of the American Studies Center at Columbia thanks to the generosity and mentorship of Casey Dr. Strange Blake and Andrew Delbanco. My cohort and the fellow graduate travelers I met in passing were an indispensable source of debate and stolen moments of revelry: Emily Cersonsky Hayman, Nijah Cunningham, John Hay, Jang-Wook Huh, Irvin Hunt, Royden Kadyschuk, Vesna Kuiken, Emily Lordi, Ivan Lupic, Jarvis McInnis, Alastair Morrison, Imani Owens, Hiie Saumaa, Adam Spry, Kate Stanley, Jessica Teague, Courtney Thorsson, Lindsay Van Tine, Aaron Winslow, Autumn Womack, and many others. Columbias secret comics society, Karen Green, Paul Levitz, and Jeremy Dauber, were also warm interlocutors who supported my work throughout my studies and long after I graduated.