The Michigan chronicle. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1936-current, 1943-10-30

Two very small but very inn
portant books comprise our Book
Notes this week: the first is i'm
portant because il adds to the writ
ten history Of the Negro and be-
comes a source OF developing
pride in the race: the second be-
cause il comes as a boost and n
balm to troubled frantic spirits and
allays our war time fears.
1t is surprising to learn from the
first book that French Negroes have
taken such an interest in the ac-
complishments Of their American
contemporaries that one has written
biography of Langston Hughes,
that they are conversant with the
works Of Sterling Brown, Countee
Cullen, Claude Mckay. and others.
that the lives and works OF Paul
Laurence Dunbar and James We'll
don ohnson have been the subjects
OF dissertations and these sat diff
ferent French universities.
II is not surprising, however, for
it is in keeping with the typical
provincial and isolationist outlook
OF Americans, to,know very little, If
anything about famous French Ne
gro writers.
Perhaps to enlighten Us, Mercer
Cook, professor OF French at At
lanta university has written a sur
prisingly readable book on the sub
ject, which, in spite Of being very
plainly pure research, succeeds adj
mirably in avoiding the usual stod-
gness and pedantry to be found in
most such efforts, and has produced
an interesting and sometimes thrill
ing book in his FIVE FRENCH Me-
GRO AUTHORS Washington, d. c.
The Associated Publishers. Inc,
l943, l64 PIP. $2.l5.
DR.. Cook, having Travelled and
studied extensively.in France writes
out of a~wealth Of knowledge. Limit
ing himself to episodes in the lives
Of ,lulien RSimonds Charles Bis
elite, Alexandra Dumas, Auguste
Lacaussade. and the modern novel
ist, Rene Maran. he covers period
from the French Revolution TO the
second World War.
He explains that OF these five
writer's nly-one,- Maran. would
have considered himself a Negro
for I'm continental French eyes. the
drop Of African blood, so important
in the United States and in some
other parts Of the world, was but
the proverbial drop in the bucket
Being mulattoes and belonging, as
they saw il, neither to the black
nor the white class completely, they
were striving for status, recognition
and equality with their white com
patriots and met with some success
The first two authors. Julien Raj
mond and Charles Bissette repre-
sent the old regime, the days wher
Negro slavery was still a problem
in French colonial life. and devoted
their lives. fortunes and pens TO The
great cause. Dumas and Lacaus'
SADIE coming along later. saw The
emergence of free France anc
were scarcely concerned with thu
problems Of Negroes, at least IL
their writings they give little evi
dcnce OF il. and reached their great
est success. Dumas particularly
when ignoring them completely.
Maran, who accomplished the
seemingly impossible by having
book published in Paris in l94l
wrote the controversial "Batouala,
novel which flayed the French
colonial system. Il u.s. unfortunate
ly, the only one OF his numerou!
works to be translated into English
Today, /; is hoped that he is still
alive and writing. In Nazis Pari
ore can never tell.
DR.. Cook was awarded Juliu.