Violets and Other Tales (1895) is a collection of stories and poems by
Alice Dunbar Nelson. While working as a teacher in New Orleans, Dunbar
Nelson published Violets and Other Tales through The Monthly Review,
embarking on a career as a leading black writer of the early twentieth
century. "If perchance this collection of idle thoughts may serve to
while away an hour or two, or lift for a brief space the load of care
from someone's mind, their purpose has been served--the author is
satisfied." With this entreaty, Alice Dunbar Nelson introduces her first
published work with a humility and caution rather unfitting an author of
such immense talent. In this collection of reflections, vignettes, short
stories, and poems, Dunbar Nelson proves herself as a writer immersed in
the classics, yet capable of illuminating the events and concerns of her
own generation. In "A Carnival Jangle," she provides a vibrant
description of New Orleans during its legendary season of celebration.
"The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ" presents itself as a newly discovered
manuscript revealing Jesus' travels in India. Dunbar Nelson's brilliant
prose style is nicely juxtaposed with her expertise in poetic form as
she moves fluidly from love poems to religious verses, narrative poems
to heartbreaking elegies. Only twenty years old when this collection was
published, Dunbar Nelson executes a brilliant debut to a long and
distinguished career in literature. With a beautifully designed cover
and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Alice Dunbar
Nelson's Violets and Other Tales is a classic of African American
literature reimagined for modern readers.
