“Mr. Charles W. Chestnuttt’s Stories.” By W.D. Howells. This critical essay was published in the Atlantic Monthly by the Houghton, Mifflin and Company in 1900. Howells was a well known and respected writing during this time so his opinion about other writers was took in to consideration.
Luckily for Chestnuttt, Howells enjoyed his writing and praised story call The Wife of his Youth. Howells was impressed with how Chestnuttt was able to write about race. “The first was the novelty of the material; for the writer dealt not only with people who were not white, but with people who were not black enough to contrast grotesquely with white people, -- who in fact were of that near approach to the ordinary American in race and color which leaves, at the last degree, everyone but the connoisseur in doubt whether they are Anglo-Saxon or Anglo-African.” Howells is impressed with how Chestnuttt was able to write about race in a different light. He was able to “master” the characteristics of certain races.
Howell sees Chestnutt as a good artist. Impressed with The Wife of his Youth, Howells does give praise to his other works as well. “But the volumes of fiction are remarkable above many, above most short stories by people entirely white, and would be worthy of unusual notice if they were not the work of a man not entirely white.” African American writers did not have the same audience or respect as white writers. For Howells to state something like this it will help Chestnutt gain respect for his work and craft in hopes people will look past his race.
Howells expresses how some inexperienced writers often have simplistic work, that it is missing beauty and detail. They have lack of a voice in their writing and their “diction is journalistic, reporteristic.” Chestnutt however does not. He is the “exception.” He knows his audience and how to write gracefully and write in great depth.
Howells enjoys the reality Chestnutt brings to his writing. He is able to show the similarities between whites and black. “He has not shown the dwellers there as very different from ourselves. They have within their own circles the same social ambitions and prejudices; they intrigue and truckle and crawl, and are snobs, like ourselves, both of the snobs that snub and the snobs that are snubbed. “ By writing about the dynamic relationships in black society he opens the eyes of whites to see blacks as more than two dimensional.
Howell’s praise and criticism of his audience that will not read Chestnutt due to his race is complimentary and will help Chestnutt become more popular. “He has sounded a fresh note, boldly, not blatantly, and he has won the ear of the more intelligent public. “

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