The Case of Carl Van Vechten: A Personal Reckoning

Abstract A personal meditation on the personal relationship between a writer and her subject, the controversial white promoter of Black art and artists, Carl Van Vechten. The author discusses Van Vechten’s activities during the Harlem Renaissance—including his infamous 1926 novel Nigger Heaven—within a broader context that includes personal as well as intellectual dimensions. The essay describes the “mess” Carl Van Vechten created with the publication of his novel as a signal moment of education in her life as a scholar and a writer. Ultimately, this a celebration of the many ways in which our work contributes to our growth as human beings.