James Weldon Johnson and Arna Wendell Bontemps: A Reference Guide by Robert E. Fleming (review)

Book Reviews95 I have only two complaints about the work. One concerns its slighting of the analyses produced as a result of the debate in post-structuralist circles over the issue of women's writing and post-Lacanian or revisionist-Lacanian concepts of womanhood. I had hoped to find discussion of these new concepts in the theory chapter, which instead contains discussion of many writers who might more properly be considered social essayists than theorists (e.g., Betty Friedan, Adrienne Rich). The other objection is that Fishborn at times gives too hasty a judgment, e.g., "Although Sam J. Lundwall, in Science Fiction: What's It All About, discusses women, he reveals his antifemale bias in his chapter heading, 'Women, Robots, and Other Peculiarities'" (p. 116). Actually, Lundwall is exhibiting the Swedish fondness for perversely ironic humor by titling his chapter in mimicry of the attitude toward women implicit in primitive science fiction. These objections are minor and ought not to stop anyone from acquiring a volume that manages to synthesize a very unwieldy set of bibliographic areas. NAOMI LINDSTROM University of Texas at Austin Robert E. Fleming. James Weldon Johnson and Ama Wendell Bontemps: A Reference Guide. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1978. 149p. Robert E. Fleming has developed quite a reputation for detecting what needs to be done in the literary world and following through forthwith with a quality text (whether article or book) that takes care of the problem. Recently he turned his skillful eye to omissions in Black American Literary Bibliography and came up with a fine text, James Weldon Johnson and Ama Wendell Bontemps: A Reference Guide. The Guide is divided into two sections, the first devoted to Johnson, the second to Bontemps. The introduction to the first section is a thorough, engaging capsulation of Johnson's literary and political career. It carries the reader swiftly from Johnson's birth to his death with frequent glimpses along the way at Johnson's numerous accomplishments, those acclaimed and those disclaimed. The introduction ends with attention to Johnson's artistic ability, an ability which more scholars are beginning to appreciate and acknowledge. Fleming's introduction to Bontemps, on the other hand, though sweeping, is not as fast-paced as his introduction to Johnson. This is primarily because the remarks are laden with undertones of tragedy. In fact, the introduction sounds most like a report of the literary leanings of a tragic black American writer, and suggests that Bontemps's whole life may have been more tragic than the untimely death ofJames W. Johnson in an automobile accident in 1938. That Bontemps produced so much but reaped so little is tragic, adding urgency to Fleming's observations that "there is still much to be done, both in biography and in criticism of his varied literary works." While the introductions to both writers offer complete lists of the publications of each, the body of each section offers annotations of writings about each writer, the Johnson entries covering the years between 1905 and 1976, the Bontemps ones the years between 1926 and 1976. The entries themselves are rich, generous samplings that confirm statements made in the introductory sections: in Johnson's case, that critical reception of his works ranged from "generally polite if limited" comments based upon Johnson's social and political stature, to serious critical attention to the 96ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW "artistic dimensions" of his works; in Bontemps's case, that "other than reviews, Bontemps has received scant critical attention, much of which does little more than suggest fruitful approaches for future critics." The only problem readers will have with Fleming's Guide is determining which annotations are completely his and which the reprinted words of reviewers, critics, etc. Quotation marks sometimes help to distinguish, but frequently the reader is confused. Though Fleming anticipates these problems in a statement he makes in the Preface — "To convey the attitude of the various critics and reviewers I have sometimes quoted significant phrases within my annotations" — some of the annotations do give the reader pause. In spite of this, however, the reference guide is a significant contribution to Black American Literature, a guide which, within its pages, suggests "fruitful approaches for future critics...