cover image Ethiopian Stories

Ethiopian Stories

George Samuel Schuyler. Northeastern University Press, $45 (288pp) ISBN 978-1-55553-204-8

In his later years, Schuyler (1895-1977), a black journalist, gained notoriety for his conservative attacks on leading black figures, including Martin Luther King. Earlier, though, he energized African American literature by appropriating the crime and science fiction genres to its uses. This volume, a follow-up to 1991's Black Empire, contains two of Schuyler's genre novellas, serialized in the 1930s and recently recovered by editor Hill. Both stories concern Ethiopia's struggle in the 1930s to liberate itself from Italian rule. Set in Harlem, ``The Ethiopian Murder Mystery'' concerns a newspaper reporter's efforts to prove wealthy Crissina Van Dyke innocent of the murder of Prince Haile Destu, an Ethiopian diplomat; the reporter's sleuthing eventually uncovers a plot with international political roots. In ``Revolt in Ethiopia,'' Dick Welland, a former redcap made wealthy through inheritance, unwittingly becomes involved in the efforts of Ethiopian princess Ettar Zunda to finance her country's warriors by going after a fabulous treasure. Using adventure-tale conventions, Schuyler depicts the duo's narrow escapes and Welland's deepening commitment to the princess and her cause. The stories are straight pulp, high on suspense and low on sophistication and depth. Hill's introduction, however, which positions Schuyler in the American literary canon, makes clear the historical import of his work, despite its banality. (Dec.)