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Brooke RoseFollow

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Literary Criticism

Abstract/Description

The purpose of this research paper is to analyze Rudolph Fisher’s short story, The City of Refuge, through the lens of evolution. Fisher spoke of evolutionary theory in a commencement address he gave at Brown University and called it the “fundamental feature of existence.” Apart from being a scientist, doctor, and orator, however, Fisher also wrote some of the most celebrated fiction of the Harlem Renaissance. Biographers of his life have noted that in his fiction he becomes one of the most prominent social critics of this movement and era. Like a good doctor, Fisher was able to objectively analyze his patient, in this case, Harlem and its renaissance. Through so doing he was able to offer valuable insight untinged by optimistic or skeptical bias as to the future and progress of the Harlem Renaissance and the New Negro Movement. The City of Refuge, in fact, was published in Alain Locke’s anthology titled The New Negro, a collection of essays and works of fiction that were compiled in the hopes of giving literary evidence of the social and artistic movement that was taking place in Harlem. In this short story, therefore, the author of this essay postulates that in the evolution of Harlem and the characters in the story, Fisher gives a subtle analysis of the Harlem Renaissance and the effect it had on black Americans. Particularly in the development of its protagonist, King Solomon Gillis, Fisher gives evidence for the hope that was born via the Harlem Renaissance as well as the disappointment and frustration.

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Origin of Submission

as part of a class

Faculty Involvement

Dr. Kristin Matthews

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Harlem's Interpreter: Rudolph Fisher and The City of Refuge

The purpose of this research paper is to analyze Rudolph Fisher’s short story, The City of Refuge, through the lens of evolution. Fisher spoke of evolutionary theory in a commencement address he gave at Brown University and called it the “fundamental feature of existence.” Apart from being a scientist, doctor, and orator, however, Fisher also wrote some of the most celebrated fiction of the Harlem Renaissance. Biographers of his life have noted that in his fiction he becomes one of the most prominent social critics of this movement and era. Like a good doctor, Fisher was able to objectively analyze his patient, in this case, Harlem and its renaissance. Through so doing he was able to offer valuable insight untinged by optimistic or skeptical bias as to the future and progress of the Harlem Renaissance and the New Negro Movement. The City of Refuge, in fact, was published in Alain Locke’s anthology titled The New Negro, a collection of essays and works of fiction that were compiled in the hopes of giving literary evidence of the social and artistic movement that was taking place in Harlem. In this short story, therefore, the author of this essay postulates that in the evolution of Harlem and the characters in the story, Fisher gives a subtle analysis of the Harlem Renaissance and the effect it had on black Americans. Particularly in the development of its protagonist, King Solomon Gillis, Fisher gives evidence for the hope that was born via the Harlem Renaissance as well as the disappointment and frustration.