Echo Tree: The Collected Short Fiction of Henry Dumas (Black Arts Movement Series) by Henry Dumas

by Henry Dumas

Henry Dumas's fiction is a masterful synthesis of myth and religion, culture and nature, mask and identity. From the Deep South to the simmering streets of Harlem, his characters embark on surreal and mythic quests armed only with wit, words, and wisdom. Championed by Toni Morrison, Walter Mosley, and Quincy Troupe, -Dumas's books have long been out of print. All of his short fiction is collected here, for the first time, and includes several previously unpublished stories.Henry Dumas was born in Sweet Home, Arkansas, moved to Harlem, joined the Air Force, attended Rutgers, worked for IBM, and taught at Hiram College in Ohio and Southern Illinois University. In 1968, at the age of thirty-three, he was shot and killed by a New York Transit Authority -policeman.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Science Fiction, African American, Fantasy, Classics, Speculative Fiction

Paperback

First published September 1, 2003

About the author

In April of 1968, at the age of thirty-three, Henry Dumas was shot and killed by a New York Transit Authority Policeman at 125th Street Station in a case of "mistaken identity." At the time of his death, he had already finished several manuscripts of poetry and short stories.

Dumas' poetry, short fiction, and novels have been published posthumously in large part due to the efforts of Eugene Redmond, Toni Morrison, and Quincy Troupe. Poetry for My People first appeared in 1970 and was later published as Play Ebony, Play Ivory. When Play Ebony, Play Ivory appeared in 1974, Julius Lester in the New York Times Book Review called Dumas "the most original Afro-American poet of the sixties." Dumas' first collection of short fiction, Arks of Bones and Other Stories, was first published in 1974. Redmond has also helped to bring out an unfinished novel, Jonah and the Green Stone (1976), as well as the collections Rope of Wind and Other Stories (1979), Goodbye, Sweetwater (1988), and Knees of a Natural Man: The Selected Poetry of Henry Dumas (1989). Authors including James Baldwin, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Maya Angelou have celebrated his writing for its mixture of natural and supernatural phenomena, music, beauty, and revolutionary politics.

Reviews

[Read By RodKelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a bit of a challenge; one of those books that has me asking myself if I'm intelligent enough to fully appreciate its brilliance. I'm somewhere on the fence. I purchased it because of Toni Morrison's esteemed endorsement (and she's my literary queen!)...but Dumas writes from a place that's heavily inspired by themes that are so contemporaneous to the 1950s and 60s that it's hard to connect. Other times he writes big, heady fables that really take a lot of effort to understand.

[Angell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was super difficult for me to read. I don’t think I am smart enough for a book like this. I think I would have liked this more if I was reading it for a literature class. I kinda wanted an English teacher to hold my hand through this one. Sometimes I understood what was going on and other times I didn’t. I’m also not a big fan of short story collections in general. There was only one at the end that I really could pin down as sci-fi. All the others where more literary. Also, I think a Boy Scout got molested by a ghost lady? That whole story was weird and confusing.

[Brian Slattery · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot believe it took me so long to discover Henry Dumas.

[Solita · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are beautifully written stories. I mean beautiful writing. For me, reading this collection of short fiction was an amazing experience. I will def read more Henry Dumas. I don't recall every hearing about Dumas, and if I did, it was my mistake not to read him long before now. I came his across his name recently, so I decided to take a looksee. Wow, I'm so glad I did. This is the sort of writing I live to read. According to Dumas' bio, he was born in Sweet Home, Arkansas in 1934, moved to Harlem when he was ten. He joined the Air Force, attended Rutgers, worked for IBM, taught at Hiram College in Ohio, and Southern Illinois University. In 1968, when he was only thirty-three, he was shot and killed by a New York Transit Authority policeman. "Under mysterious circumstances." (Hmm.) He was published posthumously and his work established him as central figure in the Black Arts Movement and an important voice in American Letters. Brilliant and beautiful writer.

[Baibhav Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been the most complete picture of afro-surrealist literature I've read ever. All of the stories embody some quality of Afro-surrealist movement or the other. Henry Dumas was one of the most influential American authors, albeit not as well recognized. Please read his short stories or poems if you haven't. They have been ever-relevant to the racial climate in the US, but a conscious rediscovery of works by the likes of Dumas right now would enlighten and fit the our current times.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far my favorite collection of short stories, the best that I've ever come across and will be hard to beat for sure. To understand these wonderfully written tales fully, is to understand their author, Henry Dumas. Born in a small, predominantly black town of Sweet Home, Arkansas , Dumas was raised in the church until moving to New York City. After graduating from high school in 1953, he joined the Air Force, stationed in San Antonio originally and then once more in Saudi Arabia. These three areas shaped Dumas' personality and writing significantly, each contributing to the content and artistic style of his works. Sweet Home, a small rural Southern town influenced Dumas to incorporate folklore and Christian inspired themes, while northern urban Harlem gave Dumas a new cultural and political perspective during times of social unrest, uprising and rebellion, and Saudi Arabia broadening Dumas' spiritual consciousness and connection with a Higher force. Whether tales that serve as an extended metaphor for the injustices committed against Africans and black Americans during the times of enslavement and Jim Crow like "Ark of Bones" , "Rope of Wind" and "Fon" , tales that describe Urban black life post-Great Migration and during the Black Power movement like " A Harlem Game" , "Scout" and " Strike and Fade" , to an exercise of language,creativity and visual writing like " Will the Circle Be Unbroken ?" , "The Devil Bird" and more, Dumas wonderfully and masterfully paints pictures via written word. There's not one story I didn't enjoy , and I will be re-reading soon to fully experience and grasp the various magical worlds Dumas was able to pen into existence.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like my short story collections succise when they've sufficed, so exactly that: short. Most ‘collected works’ on my shelves have pristine spines beyond their midpoint, often leaving my guilt tank half full (or half empty when the weather’s nice). However, Henry Dumas, though sprinkling many of the same thematic toppings, offers the reader every flavor in the parlor. Most of the stories deserve pause, post read, to let what just happened wash over, only to immediately rev the curiosity into the next.

[Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great short stories about civil rights and black life in the US (both rural and urban), set during a few different times and wavering between realist, eerie, mystical and symbolist tones.

This is a must-read, but sometimes hard to find as a physical book outside the US. It is available on audible and from openlibrary though, so please give it a try.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m disappointed that I haven’t come across Henry Dumas earlier. One of the best, and most imaginative, American writers.

[Wyatt strawbridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crazy that this guy was only 33 when he was shot unjustly by a policeman way before there was much attention paid to shootings like these. What a goat. Also how was he so smart and prolific and good a writing at such a young age? Such a great look into several different takes on afrosurrealism and almost futurism that it felt like a retrospective of a long career rather than a sad look at what could have been. Could have been 4.5 idk

[Ives Phillips · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF'd at 36%. For all of the accolades given to this collection and the anticipation built up for the Coffeehouse Press edition, I had high hopes that this would be a collection of incredible and thought-provoking pieces that leads to some soul searching and presenting the human condition, as well as the richness of African American culture, in a new light. But this was a nightmare to read. It was boring. Not even the prose was rich and unique, which would normally keep me interested in a story until at least the 50% mark.

[Tijmen Lansdaal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unique, easy-going voice. Imaginative, subtly layered stories.

[Theresa Blackwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mix 2 parts Langston Hughes with 1 part (more accessible) Faulkner; add a generous dollop of Bradbury and voilá! Henry Dumas.
This collection is magnificent. And timely. And tragic. And BEAUTIFUL. 4.5 stars.

[Jennifer Pullen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important book by an important writer.

[Clover Gislason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful work. I wish he could have written more.

[Fen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henry Dumas more than lives up to his reputation. Even though he died so young, he left behind an accomplished body of work. This collection also fits in perfectly with Coffee House Press' catalog--his stories do not fit neatly into any genre category. He wrote realist stories right alongside surreal ones, sometimes veering into the mythical, or into science fiction. The realist stories are likely autobiographical, since they feature young men growing up in rural Arkansas.

I can't say any of these stories is my favorite, which is actually a compliment. There are no ups and downs, because the collection is consistent and every story worth reading. The realist ones, perhaps, feel a bit repetitive after a while, and some feel like they could have used another draft. Those small nitpicks aside, reading Echo Tree put me into the minds of young black men in times and places entirely foreign to me. I've read Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, and James Baldwin, and none of those authors has been nearly as effective in this regard as Dumas. He really gets to the crux of what it means to grow up in an atmosphere of poverty and oppression, where lynching and other forms of violence against blacks are the norm. He also documents the Civil Rights movement and the clash between radicals like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.

The editors of the collection have immaculately ordered the stories. The ending could not be more perfect.

[Hank]

A short story writer more Americans should be reading. Sure, Dumas was "ahead of his time" in his thinking about race and revolt, but I'm equally interested in his approach to genre. The man dabbled in fabulism, science fiction, realism, and surrealism while drawing from jazz, folklore, and voodoo. He was incredibly versatile, and doesn't get enough credit for it.

Not every story in Echo Tree is a bonafide masterpiece. However, you have to admire Dumas' experimentation even in the lesser cuts. As for the masterpieces--just read them. There's a reason so many great writers have lauded Dumas. It's a shame he didn't live to see this collection make its way into the world.

Thank you, Coffeehouse Press.

Choice cuts: Ark of Bones, Echo Tree, Riot or Revolt, Will the Circle Be Unbroken

NPR article about Dumas' life and death: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswit...

[Degenerate Chemist · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Echo Tree" is a collection of short stories by Henry Dumas. The stories cover a range of different genres and themes but all of them are an exploration of Black American culture.

This book is excellent and well worth the read even though it is a bit of a mixed bag at times. These works were written in the 50s and 60s and some of them are very much a product of their time- i.e. the Civil rights movement and the Black power movement.

My favorite stories were the ones based around Black folk tales. Dumas' ruminations on religion made for some of the most fascinating stories in this collection.

You can see the big themes and ideas Dumas was trying to tackle in his writing. Religion, justice, resistance- and reading this makes me understand why he is so highly regarded by other authors. Even reading the more questionable selections can see how sharp and focused his writing was and it is tragic he never got to refine his art.

[Deborah Bodansky]

Rich, thought-provoking, variegated, memorable. Reading anthologies always reminds me of the remarkable skill the writer has to succinctly convey an idea. From folk tales to fantasy and sci-fi, from Arkansas to Harlem to Africa, in a variety of styles ranging from traditional to quite experimental, this collection presents a broad, multi-varied portrait of the experiences, concerns, and ethos of the Black community in America - particularly the South - in the decades before integration and during the civil rights movement. I hope it gets read and studied in schools and colleges, there's so much here.

[Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked the story "Harlem" at random to read from this collection. Dumas is able to evoke a sense of time and place well, and plays with tension throughout the story. There's a sense of building toward a big event, echoed by a previous explosion at an Islamic Temple, and it ends with police trying to break up a public gathering.

Sobering given the author's fate, being shot during an interaction with a Transit Officer.

Would love to read more, but gotta take it back to the library.

[Richard O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can I get you to read this book? Like Toni Morrison, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston and Ishmael Reed, Dumas re-invokes black folkways and myth to create new fictions. Dumas was also an exceptional poet. The stories have the qualities of myth, realist but magic too, and with rooted knowledge of the South and the city. The author was an Africanist before the term was coined. Henry Dumas was an African American griot and fabulist.

[Benjamin Cane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henry Dumas' work is the epitome of African American speculative fiction. As a southerner I can truly appreciate many of his tales, in which, they capture the essence of our mystical nature as a people.

[Ann Fleming · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting.
Some stories were delightful, some seemed incomplete

[Bookreadah 1108 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid collection of short stories

[Nino Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Happy Birthday to one of the greatest writers of all time. Rest in Peace.

[Mikal · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting volume of short fiction and poetry, reflecting the ongoing search of identity and emancipation of the African American. It being an anthology, not really an all the way through read. A great set of abstract works.

[Eddie Sulecki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good stories, I would recommend to those interested in African American literature.

[Victoria Law · Rating 2 out of 5]

His last story "Riot or Revolt?" about the day after a riot in Harlem prompted by the police shooting a Black boy is, sadly, all to familiar.

[Rita]

See my email to self, subj; Toni Morrison.

this may be the book of his for me to get and read.
he wrote poetry, and short stories.

[Mills College Library]

Fiction D8866e 2003