Eric Derwent Walrond (18 December 1898 – 8 August 1966) was an Afro-Caribbean
Harlem Renaissance writer and journalist. Born in
Georgetown,
British Guiana, the son of a
Barbadian mother and a Guyanese father, Walrond was well-travelled, moving early in life to live in
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...
, and then
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...
, New York City, and eventually England. He made a lasting contribution to literature, his most famous book being ''
Tropic Death'', published in New York City in 1926 when he was 28; it remains in print today as a classic of its era.
In it are collected 10 stories, at least one of which had been previously published in small magazines. He had published other short stories prior to this, as well as a number of essays. The scholar
Kenneth Ramchand
Kenneth Ramchand (born 1939) is a Trinidad and Tobago academic and writer, who is widely respected as "arguably the most prominent living critic of Caribbean fiction". He has written extensively on many West Indian authors, including V. S. Naipau ...
described Walrond's book as a "blistering" work of the imagination; others described his work as "impressionistic" and "frequently telegraphic", reflecting his use of short sentences. The following extract from his short story "Subjection" illustrates his more lyrical narrative style:
:"A ram-shackle body, dark in the ungentle spots exposing it, jogged, reeled and fell at the tip of a white bludgeon. Forced a dent in the crisp caked earth. An isolated ear lay limp and juicy, like some exhausted leaf or flower, half joined to the tree whence it sprang. Only the sticky milk flooding it was crimson, crimsoning the dust and earth."
Much of the dialogue between Walrond's characters is written in dialect, using the many different tongues loosely centred on the English language to portray the diversity of characters associated with the pan-Caribbean diaspora.
Early life and education
Eric Walrond was born in
Georgetown,
British Guiana, to a Barbadian mother and a Guyanese father. When Eric was aged eight, his father left, and he moved with his mother, Ruth, to live with relatives in Barbados, where he attended St. Stephen's Boys' School, before moving to
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...
at the time when the
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...
was being constructed. Here Walrond completed his school education and became fluent in Spanish as well as English. Following training as a secretary and stenographer, he was employed as a clerk in the Health Department of the Canal Commission at
Cristóbal
Cristóbal or Cristobal, the Spanish version of Christopher, is a masculine given name and a surname which may refer to:
Given name
*Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895–1972), Spanish fashion designer
*Cristóbal Cobo (born 1976), Chilean academic
*Cri ...
, and as a reporter for the ''Panama Star-Herald'' newspaper. In 1918 he moved to New York, where he attended
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
and was taught by
Dorothy Scarborough
Emily Dorothy Scarborough (January 27, 1878 – November 7, 1935) was an American writer who wrote about Texas, folk culture, cotton farming, ghost stories and women's life in the Southwest.
Early life
Scarborough was born in Mount Carmel, Te ...
. He was a member of
Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
Harlem Renaissance writer
In New York, Walrond worked at first as hospital secretary, porter, and stenographer. His utopian sketch of a united Africa, "A Senator's Memoirs" (1921), won a prize sponsored by
Marcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...
. From 1921 to 1923, Walrond was editor and co-owner of an African-American weekly called the ''Brooklyn and Long Island Informer''. He was then hired as associate editor (1923–25) of ''
Negro World
''Negro World'' was the newspaper of the Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA). Founded by Garvey and Amy Ashwood Garvey, the newspaper was published weekly in Harlem, New York, and distr ...
'', the paper of Garvey's
Universal Negro Improvement Association
The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) is a black nationalist fraternal organization founded by Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant to the United States, and Amy Ashwood Garvey. The Pan-Africa ...
(UNIA). He subsequently became a protégé of the
National Urban League
The National Urban League, formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Am ...
's director
Charles S. Johnson. Between 1925 and 1927 he was a contributor to, and business manager of, the Urban League's ''
Opportunity
Opportunity may refer to:
Places
* Opportunity, Montana, an unincorporated community, United States
* Opportunity, Nebraska, an unincorporated community, United States
* Opportunity, Washington, a former census-designated place, United States
* ...
'' magazine, which had been founded in 1923 to help bring to prominence African-American contributors to the arts and politics of the 1920s. He was also a contributor to ''
The Smart Set
''The Smart Set'' was an American literary magazine, founded by Colonel William d'Alton Mann and published from March 1900 to June 1930. Its headquarters was in New York City. During its Jazz Age heyday under the editorship of H. L. Mencken and ...
'', ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
'' and ''
Vanity Fair'' and ''
Negro World
''Negro World'' was the newspaper of the Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA). Founded by Garvey and Amy Ashwood Garvey, the newspaper was published weekly in Harlem, New York, and distr ...
''. Walrond published his first short story called "The Palm Porch", which describes a brothel in the Canal Zone, where a merciless plot to take over the land unfolds. His other short stories included "On Being Black" (1922), "On Being a Domestic" (1923), "Miss Kenny's Marriage" (1923), "The Stone Rebounds" (1923), "Vignettes of the Dusk" (1924), "The Black City" (1924), and "City Love" (1927) – the year that
Duke Ellington began his career in New York and the
Harlem Globetrotters were founded. In two consecutive years (1928 and 1929), Walrond was awarded the
Guggenheim Fellowship for Fiction.
Later life in England
![The grave of Eric D Walrond, Abney Park Cemetery, London](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/The_grave_of_Eric_D_Walrond%2C_Abney_Park_Cemetery%2C_London.jpg)
After a decade in America, Walrond left for England, where he met English writers and artists during the 1930s, including
Winifred Holtby
Winifred Holtby (23 June 1898 – 29 September 1935) was an English novelist and journalist, now best known for her novel '' South Riding'', which was posthumously published in 1936.
Biography
Holtby was born to a prosperous farming family in ...
. In later life he continued to employ his editorial skills from time to time, while working as an accountant. He lived from 1939 to 1952 at 9 Ivy Terrace
Bradford on Avon
Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon or Bradford upon Avon) is a town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset, which had a population of 9,402 at the 2011 census. The town's canal, historic buildings, s ...
,
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
,
while working at the
Avon Rubber
Avon Protection plc is a British company that specialises in the engineering and manufacturing of respiratory protection equipment for military, law enforcement and fire personnel. Its corporate headquarters are south of Melksham in Wiltshir ...
factory in
Melksham
Melksham () is a town on the River Avon in Wiltshire, England, about northeast of Trowbridge and south of Chippenham. At the 2011 census, the Melksham built-up area had a population of 19,357, making it Wiltshire's fifth-largest settlement aft ...
. However, in 1952 he admitted himself to a psychiatric hospital,
Roundway Hospital
Roundway Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in the parish of Roundway near Devizes, Wiltshire, England. It was originally called the Wiltshire County Lunatic Asylum and later the Wiltshire County Mental Hospital. It opened in 1851 and closed in ...
in
Devizes
Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century civil war between ...
, and stayed there until 1957.
After he left the hospital, he was involved in a theatrical production at London's
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...
in the aftermath of the
1958 Notting Hill race riots
The Notting Hill race riots were a series of racially motivated riots that took place in Notting Hill, England, between 29 August and 5 September 1958.
Background
Following the end of the Second World War, as a result of the losses during the wa ...
. In the Royal Court Theatre, Walrond produced a literary work in "Masks of Arcady".
Robert Bone
Robert Adamson Bone (1924 – November 25, 2007). was a scholar of African-American literature and a professor of English at Columbia University.
Biography
Bone was a conscientious objector during World War II. He received a B.A. in English from ...
, scholar of
American literature and a professor of English at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, gives details of this production in his ''CLA Journal''.
On 8 August 1966, at the age of 67, Walrond collapsed on a street in central London and was pronounced dead on arrival at
St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Following an autopsy, he was buried at
Abney Park Cemetery,
Stoke Newington, on 17 September. His grave lies on a path edge in the southern section.
After his death, which occurred while he was living in reduced circumstances, his early literary work has enjoyed wider recognition, as reflected in ''Winds Can Wake up the Dead...'' and ''The Penguin Book of Caribbean Short Stories'', both published in the 1990s, ''In Search of Asylum'', which appeared in 2011, and in James Davis' 2015 biography. At the time, however, his passing appears to have gone relatively unnoticed, although
Arna Bontemps wrote of his death, from a fifth heart attack, in a letter to
Langston Hughes, dated 1 September 1966.
Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen (born Countee LeRoy Porter; May 30, 1903 – January 9, 1946) was an American poet, novelist, children's writer, and playwright, particularly well known during the Harlem Renaissance.
Early life
Childhood
Countee LeRoy Porter ...
's well-known poem "Incident" is dedicated to Walrond.
Selected bibliography
Novels
Death'' New York:
Boni & Liveright
Boni & Liveright (pronounced "BONE-eye" and "LIV-right") is an American trade book publisher established in 1917 in New York City by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright. Over the next sixteen years the firm, which changed its name to Horace Live ...
, 1926.
Anthology
* Parascandola, Louis J. (ed.), ''Winds Can Wake Up the Dead: an Eric Walrond Reader'',
Wayne State University Press
Wayne State University Press (or WSU Press) is a university press that is part of Wayne State University. It publishes under its own name and also the imprints
Imprint or imprinting may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Imprint'' (TV series), ...
, 1998.
* Parascandola, Louis J., and Carl A. Wade (eds), ''In Search of Asylum: the Later Writings of Eric Walrond'',
University Press of Florida
The University Press of Florida (UPF) is the scholarly publishing arm of the State University System of Florida, representing Florida's twelve state universities. It is located in Gainesville near the University of Florida, one of the state's majo ...
, 2011
References
Further reading
* Berry, Jay A., "Eric Walrond", in Trudier Harris and Thadious M. Davis (eds), ''Dictionary of Literary Biography: Afro-American Writers from the Harlem Renaissance to 1940'', Vol. 51, Cengage Gale, 1986, pp. 296–300.
* Brittan, Jennifer. "The Terminal: Eric Walrond, the City of Colón, and the Caribbean of the Panama Canal." ''American Literary History'' 25.2 (2013): 294–316.
* Davis, James. ''Eric Walrond: A Life in the Harlem Renaissance and the Transatlantic Caribbean'' (2015),
* Gable, Craig. ''Ebony Rising: Short Fiction of the Greater Harlem Renaissance''.
* Lewis, David Levering, ''When Harlem Was in Vogue'', Penguin Books, 1997.
*
Markham, E. A. (1996). ''The Penguin Book of Caribbean Short Stories''.
* Parascandola, Louis J., and Carl A. Wade (eds), ''Eric Walrond – The Critical Heritage''. University of the West Indies Press, 2012. .
*Farrison, W. Edward. ''CLA Journal'', vol. 20, no. 1, 1976, pp. 135–140. ''JSTOR'', www.jstor.org/stable/44329234.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walrond, Eric D.
1898 births
1966 deaths
20th-century African-American writers
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American novelists
20th-century Guyanese writers
20th-century short story writers
African-American male writers
African-American novelists
African-American short story writers
American male non-fiction writers
American male novelists
American people of Barbadian descent
American short story writers
Barbadian male writers
Barbadian novelists
Guyanese emigrants to England
Guyanese emigrants to the United States
Guyanese novelists
Guyanese people of Barbadian descent
Guyanese short story writers
Harlem Renaissance
Novelists from New York (state)
People from Georgetown, Guyana