Dorothy West, The Richer, the Poorer: Stories, Sketches, and Reminiscences

A Yemisi Jimoh (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Ed. by A Yemisi Jimoh, University of Massachusetts Amherst
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 2.2.2.00: Post-1917 Writing and Culture in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, 1917-present.
Vol. editors: Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol), Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1995

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Autobiography (literary)
- Essay Collection
Story Collection

Resources

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Dorothy West was propelled into the world of literature as a schoolgirl in 1926 when her story “The Typewriter” took second prize in the

Opportunity

magazine competition and subsequently was published in the July 1926 edition. This story, along with sixteen others, was re-printed in West's collection

The Richer, the Poorer

, published in 1995 during the revival of interest in the literary career of the only remaining writer of the New Negro/Harlem Renaissance era of the 1920s.

Dorothy West's characteristic irony is evident in her first important story: in “The Typewriter” a janitor helps his daughter practice her typing by dictating fictional letters. The janitor feels important and successful during these contrived business sessions, so he creates a fictional persona and begins to

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781 words

Citation: Jimoh, A Yemisi. "The Richer, the Poorer: Stories, Sketches, and Reminiscences". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 January 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7586, accessed 24 November 2024.]

Dorothy West, The Richer, the Poorer: Stories, Sketches, and Reminiscences

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