On July 13, 1896, Paul Laurence Dunbar in Dayton wrote his first letter to William Dean Howells in New York State. Howells was the most influential literary critic in America, and he had recently written a favorable review of Paul book, Majors and Minors, in Harper's Weekly, a national magazine.
I have seen your article in Harper's and felt its effect. That I have not written you sooner is neither the result of willful neglect or lack of gratitude. It has taken time for me to recover from the shock of delightful surprise. My emotions have been too much for me. I could not thank you without "gushing" and I did not want to "gush." Now from the very depths of my heart I want to thank you. You yourself do not know what you have done for me. I feel much as a poor, insignificant, hopeless boy would feel to suddenly find himself knighted. The kindly praise that you have accorded me will be an incentive to more careful work. My greatest fear is that you may have been more kind to me than just.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to William Dean Howells, July 13, 1896. Howells family papers, Houghton Library, Harvard University. MS Am 1784 (133).
The review in Harper's Weekly created many new opportunities for Paul, but it also had a negative effect on his career. While praising Paul's literary ability, Howells implied that his Black dialect verse was more valuable than his poetry in standard English.
He calls his little book Majors and Minors; the Majors being in our American English, and the Minors being in dialect. I have no means of knowing whether he values his Majors more than his Minors; but I should not suppose it at all unlikely, and I am bound to say none of them are despicable. It is when we come to Mr. Dunbar's Minors that we feel ourselves in the presence of a man with a direct and a fresh authority to do the kind of thing he is doing. If his Minors had been written by a white man, I should have been struck by their very uncommon quality; I should have said that they were wonderful divinations. But since they are expressions of a race-life from within the race, they seem to me infinitely more valuable and significant.
"Life and Letters," by William Dean Howells. Harper's Weekly (New York, New York). June 27, 1896. Page 630.
Soon after the review of Majors and Minors was published, Howells told the literary agent Ripley Hitchcock that Paul's next book should be "entirely black."
Major Pond is going to platform young Dunbar next winter, and I believe a book of entirely black verse from him would succeed. My notice raised such interest.
William Dean Howells to Ripley Hitchcock, July 29, 1896. William Dean Howells Papers, Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library (New York, New York). MSS 0622.
This viewpoint by Howells prompted critics, editors and readers to categorize Paul as a writer of dialect verse rather than a serious poet. He was often criticized for writing poems in standard English.
Mr. Dunbar is an American Negro, and the first of his race to produce dialect verse in illustration of Negro thought and feeling. That is his main title to honor and remembrance. His pieces in literary English are very tolerable indeed, but not out of the common. It is on the dialect pieces that his claim to consideration must be based.
"Books of the Month," by Davenport Adams. Belgravia: A London Magazine (London, England). July 1897. Page 366.
Mr. Dunbar's poems in the white man's manner are not at all distinguished. They are mediocre verses, and only interesting as the achievements of a black man in a speech not his own. A good three-quarters of the book might quite well be dispensed with. What we would keep would be the Negro dialect poems, of which half a dozen deserve to be classics. In these one gets the qualities of quaint humor, vivacity, simplicity and wisdom, which belong to the Negro race, with the affectionateness which made them dear to their masters of old.
"Recent Poetry and Verse." Speaker (London, England). August 28, 1897. Page 245.
The "white" ones range from merely commonplace sentimental songs and moral lessons in clumsy rhyme to some that are very skillful and fine in texture. It is in the "black" poems, however, that he makes an individual contribution to American literature.
"An Ethiopian Muse." Bookman (London, England). August 1897. Page 126.
With all respect for his serious poems, written in choice English, we think most readers will turn gladly to the verses at the end of the volume, in which Mr. Dunbar sounds once more the varied notes of his race.
"Books and Reading." The Evening Post (New York, New York). March 27, 1899.
Mr. Dunbar is at his best in his dialect verse, because in this verse he is dealing with the thing he knows firsthand. In dialect Mr. Dunbar is often extremely felicitous, both in his humor and his art. He continually impresses one as having transfixed in his verse the real thing, and in perfect sincerity. His other work, although often very good, is sometimes conventional and secondary.
"Books of the Week." The Outlook (New York, New York). April 8, 1899. Page 832.
Early in his career, Paul told his friend James Newton Matthews that a Chicago newspaper would publish only his dialect poetry. Years later, at the height of his literary fame, one of Paul's poems was rejected by a magazine editor, who asked for something in dialect instead.
The Record of Monday July 31 had a little poem of mine. They won't take anything but dialect so I have no market for anything else.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Dr. James Newton Matthews, August 12, 1893. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 1).
In regard to the Christmas matter, you can make it either a story -- not more than 2500 words -- or a poem -- but we would like best to have your characteristic dialect work. If you decide to send a story, you can have until about the middle of September to prepare it. If a poem, it will not be needed so soon. If you cannot write a Christmas story in so short a time, send us a dialect poem instead. I hope you will give us something "prime" for my xmas number. The poem you sent last, and which I return to you, is too fine for Truth. I don't believe the average Truth reader would appreciate its beauty -- and I know you can give me something more suited to our needs.
Truth Magazine to Paul Laurence Dunbar, August 1, 1900. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 1).
Several months after Howells' review was published in Harper's Weekly, Paul wrote to a friend about its negative impact.
I am so glad that you too can see and appreciate the utter hollowness of most American book criticism. It makes me smile and it makes me sneer. One critic says a thing and the rest hasten to say the same thing, in many instances using the identical words. I see now very clearly that Mr. Howells has done me irrevocable harm in the dictum he laid down regarding my dialect verse.
Paul Laurence Dunbar to Dr. F., March 15, 1897. "Unpublished Letters of Paul Laurence Dunbar to a Friend." The Crisis (New York, New York). June 1920. Page 73.