The West Virginia University Press has published the fourth volume of its Regenerations series, which explores African American literary and cultural history.

The Colonel’s Dream,” written by Charles W. Chesnutt and edited by R.J. Ellis, is now available for purchase.

Charles Waddell Chesnutt (1858-1932) was an African American writer, essayist, Civil Rights activist, legal-stenography businessman, and lawyer. His novels and short stories explore race, racism and the problematic contours of African Americans’ social and cultural identities in the post-Civil War South. He was the first African American to be published by a major American publishing house and served as a beacon-point for future African American writers.

“The Colonel’s Dream,” written in 1905, is a tale of the post-Civil War South’s degeneration into a region awash with virulent racist practices against African Americans: segregation, lynchings, disenfranchisement, convict-labor exploitation and endemic violent repression.

The events in this novel are powerfully depicted from the point of view of a philanthropic, but unreliable, southern white colonel. Upon his return to the South, the colonel learns to abhor this southern world, as a tale of vicious racism unfolds. Throughout this narrative, Chesnutt confronts the deteriorating position of African Americans in an increasingly hostile South. Upon its publication, “The Colonel’s Dream” was considered too controversial and unpalatable because of its bitter criticisms of southern white prejudice and northern indifference. The groundbreaking story failed to gain public attention and acclaim.

This is the first scholarly edition of “The Colonel’s Dream.” It includes an introduction and notes by R. J. Ellis and works to reestablish the novel’s reputation.

Regenerations: African American Literature and Culture is a series devoted to reprinting editions of important African American texts that either have fallen out of print or have failed to receive the attention they deserve. Regenerations encourages research that develops and extends the understanding of African American literary and cultural history, while promoting regional and local research that represents the complex dynamics of African American experience. The series is edited by John Ernest, of the University of Delaware and Joycelyn Moody, of the University of Texas at San Antonio

To order the book, visit http://wvupress.com, call 800-621-2736 or visit a local bookstore.

-WVU-

af/11/17/14

CONTACT: Abby Freeland, West Virginia University Press
304.293.6188, Abby.Freeland@mail.wvu.edu

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