who upheld the capitalistic regime” (28). There
are a number of jarring events, revealing sexual en-
counters, and lively discussions, however, that
serve to inject realism into Niggerati Manor, and
ultimately the place is unable to fully accommo-
date its inhabitants or to contain their ideas.
Thurman satirized contemporary practices
such as literary salons, interracial friendships, and
discussions about appropriate demonstrations of
African-American identity. He uses the character
Stephen Jorgenson to trace the increasing immer-
sion into Harlem of all the characters. It is Ray-
mond, for instance, whose persuasive commentaries
serve to educate Jorgenson. Ensconced in Niggerati
Manor, he not only lives in Harlem but apparently
becomes “a nigger.” The group of friends with
whom he now associates talk frankly about sexual-
ity and race. The novel closes after Gaylord, a man
described as “servile and deferential” is imprisoned
for rape, Savoy is institutionalized in a mental hos-
pital, Arbian commits suicide, and Jorgenson leaves
America as a committed racist. The image of a re-
naissance in shambles is prevented only by the fact
that Raymond Taylor has the prospect of a real re-
lationship with Lucille and that the boardinghouse
is to be redesigned as a settlement house for work-
ing women.
The novel clearly underscored Thurman’s dis-
appointment in certain aspects of the Harlem Re-
naissance. Despite his commitment to artistic
excellence, he and several of his contemporaries
had been frustrated by what they regarded as old-
fashioned philosophies about race and sexuality.
Thurman’s efforts to establish FIRE!!,for instance,
reflected his ambitions and investment in a more
liberated and avant-garde cultural environment.
Yet, the speedy failure of the magazine and the
steady success of institutional publications such as
THECRISISand OPPORTUNITYrevealed the limita-
tions placed upon him as an artist of color. Thur-
man scholar Eleonore van Otten suggests that
Thurman’s novel also critiqued white opportunism,
caste prejudice, and gratuitous investments and
parodies of blackness. Yet it was a novel criticized
for being “clumsily written” with “incredibly bad”
dialogue “which range[d] from elephantine witti-
cisms to ponderous philosophizing” (NYT, 28
February 1932, BR7). THENEWYORKTIMESreview
of the work did concede that at least “[s]ome of
the discussions are challenging” and that “[s]ome
of the scenes... are shrewdly observed” but ulti-
mately concluded that the book “lacks life and fails
to awake in the reader the necessary emotional re-
sponse” (NYT,28 February 1932, BR7). Thurman
himself authored a review of Infants of the Spring.In
the unpublished assessment, he suggested that the
“characters and their problems cried out for re-
lease” and “intruded themselves into... every
alien thought” of the author. Ultimately, though,
he concurred with his critics, suggesting that the
novel was “unsatisfactory” and that the author had
“certainly no excuse for having allowed it to be
published.” Thurman’s words reflected his ambiva-
lence about the work but also signaled his deep de-
sire to quash the all-consuming frenzy that defined
his experience of the Harlem Renaissance.Bibliography
“Call Home The Heartand Other Works of Fiction,”
New York Times,28 February 1932, BR7.
Kaplan, Carla. Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters.New
York: Doubleday, 2002.
Rampersad, Arthur. The Life of Langston Hughes: I, Too,
Sing America.Vol. 1, 1902–1941.New York: Oxford
University Press, 1986.
Thurman, Wallace. Infants of the Spring.Foreword by
Amritjit Singh. Boston: Northeastern University
Press, 1992.
van Notten, Eleonore. Wallace Thurman’s Harlem Renais-
sance.Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1994.Interne, TheWallace Thurman(1932)
The third novel of WALLACETHURMAN.The In-
terneappeared in the same year as the author’s sec-
ond book, INFANTS OF THE SPRING. Thurman
collaborated with ABRAHAMFURMAN, a writer-
attorney, on this tale of medical students, nurses,
and the dramas that emerge in an urban hospital.
The novel was based on a Thurman play of the
same name. Like ZORA NEALE HURSTON, who
published only one book featuring white charac-
ters, Thurman made his first and last attempt to
depict white life in The Interne.
The novel chronicled the experiences of Carl
Armstrong, a young white physician whose faith in
medicine is shattered by the bureaucracy and heart-
lessness of the city hospital in which he comes to270 Interne, The