Nigger Heaven is a novel by Carl Van Vechten published in October 1926. The book is set during the Harlem Renaissance in the United States in the 1920s. The book and its title have been controversial since its publication. The novel is a portrayal of life in the "great black walled city" of Harlem, part of New York City. It describes the interactions of African American intellectuals, political activists, bacchanalian workers, and other Harlem characters. The plot concerns two people, a quiet librarian and an aspiring writer, who try to keep their love alive as racism denies them every opportunity. This roman à clef became an instant bestseller and served as an informal guide book to Harlem. It also split the Black literary community, as some including Langston Hughes and Nella Larsen appreciated it, while others like Countee Cullen and W. E. B. Du Bois regarded it as an "affront to the hospitality of black folks". The book fuelled a period of "Harlemania", during which the neighborhood became en vogue among White people, who then frequented its cabarets and bars.
Author By the 1920s, Van Vechten was a noted music and dance critic in New York. Knopf had already published several of his novels by the time Nigger Heaven was conceived. He first became fascinated with Harlem when he read a book by a young Black writer, Walter White. He sought out White, who worked for the NAACP, and White introduced him to many black artists, which stimulated Van Vechten's appreciation for blues music and for Harlem. Van Vechten wrote to Gertrude Stein that, "I have passed practically my whole winter in company with Negroes and have succeeded in getting into most of the important sets", and told her of his future plans for "my negro novel". "This will not be a novel about negroes in the South or white contacts or lynchings. It will be about NEGROES, as they live now in the new city of Harlem (which is part of New York)."
Synopsis
Title "Nigger heaven" was a term used in the 19th century to refer to church balconies, which were segregated for African Americans, as the white members of the congregation sat below; cf. the use of paradise for the upper seats of a theatre.
Plot The short novel begins with a prologue about a violent pimp nicknamed the Scarlet Creeper. The main part of the book is structured as two novellas. The first novella is centered on Mary Love, a young librarian who is fascinated by the diverse cultures of Harlem in which she lives, as well as its different hierarchies, and wants to belong but is unsure of her place in it. She briefly has a relationship with a writer named Byron Kasson and they have extended conversations on literature and art. The second novella is Byron's story. He greatly resents the segregated nature of New York. After his relationship with Mary, he takes up with a debauched socialite as they explore the wild side of Harlem. The socialite dumps him adding to his earlier negative views on the society in which they live. The novel ends with a violent confrontation involving the Scarlet Creeper and Byron, and although the Creeper is at fault, Byron faces punishment for it.
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