Collected Short Works (AmazonClassics Edition)

A civil rights activist and key figure in African American literary history, Alice Dunbar-Nelson made her mark during the emerging Harlem Renaissance. But since her subject matter was as fluid as her own multilayered identity, her prolific and once popular output has since been vastly underrated.

Violets and Other Tales is Dunbar-Nelson’s debut (reprinted here in full, save for three stories that were later updated in The Goodness of St. Rocque). The collection includes poetry, short stories, and essays offering a varied examination of class differences, racial identity, oppression, intolerance, and women’s societal roles. The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories assembles fourteen of Dunbar’s short works of fiction, focusing especially on her own Creole heritage and culture and confronting more directly the questions of race and gender.

Insightful, powerful, and wide-ranging, these collected short works stand as an enduring testament to Dunbar-Nelson’s talent and importance.

Revised edition: Previously published as Violets and Other Tales, The Goodness of St. Roque and Other Tales, this edition of Collected Short Works (AmazonClassics Edition) includes editorial revisions.