Review.

"Nigger Heaven"—Carl van Vechten

An astounding story of nego life in Harlem. A book which is completely sincere and even intense.

It throbs to a wild jungle rhythm moving as an undercurrent through everything. The whole life of the negro is laid bare as if one had lifted a trap-door disclosing a completely new world somewhere below. There is a tremendous range of personality of white infusions. The main characters are ordinary normal people until they fall in love, and then, when their mental equilibrium is disturbed, the negro heritage of emotions is let loose. It drives Lasca Sartois to interesting depths of sensuality which with her is very close to Sadism. There are simpletons, labourers, negro artists, noveaux riches, and sophists who are incredibly evil. The emotions of the jilted hero of the tale are often stupid but they are never commonplace. Compared with the bulldikers, hootchie-pops, and professional boy-friends, he is a very normal negro indeed. The emotions and feeling of the "Black Room" are warmly purple. The book is forceful and vivid. It is the cry of one who tells of those who are lost in wilderness, where there is no hope and no lasting happiness—a wilderness of prejudice.

R.G.T.