The Walls of Jericho

By Rudolph Fisher

Book Overview

The first novel by one of the legends of the Harlem Renaissance, a classic in the annals of Black fiction.

When Black lawyer Fred Merrit purchases a house in the most exclusive white neighbourhood bordering Harlem, he has to hire the toughest removal firm in the area to help him get his belongings past the hostile neighbours. The removal men are Jinx Jenkins and Bubber Brown, who make the move anything but straightforward.

This hilarious satire of jazz-age Harlem derides the walls people build around themselves--colour and class being chief among them. In their reactions to Merrit and to one another, the characters provide an invaluable view of the social and philosophical scene of the times.

First published in 1928, The Walls of Jericho is the first novel by Rudolph Fisher, author of The Conjure-Man Dies, whom Langston Hughes called 'the wittiest of the Harlem Renaissance writers, whose tongue was flavoured with the sharpest and saltiest humour'.

This new edition includes Fisher's short story 'One Month's Wages', which revisits Jinx and Bubber during the Depression when, down on their luck, one seeks to win money by gambling, the other by taking a job in a mortuary.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0008444358
• ISBN13: 9780008444358
• Release Date: May 2021
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Great!

The pulse of The Walls of Jericho beats to the music of the characters' intelligence, self-reliance, commitment,and friendship. Although the sting of racism is a central theme, Fisher shines a greater light on the plague of "colorism" and its implications in the African-American culture. Ruldoph Fisher has authored a work that affords me the opportunity to teach high school students a novel that does not weigh its reality on the scales of profanity and promiscuity.What a delight! Finally, to help readers with the melodious dialect and slang used by the ever emerging characters, an index of "possible" unfamilar terms is provided.

Fantastic

There is only one word I can use to describe this and that is fantastic. This book is very well written and contains a good message about peoples personalities. Not only is this book interesting but it is funny as well. If you read any book in the next few months, read this one.