When Washington Was in Vogue: A Love Story

by Edward Christopher Williams

Book Overview

A literary event, this love story was written and set in the 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance and is being published in book form for the very first time. In the tradition of Dorothy West's The Wedding and Nella Larsen's Passing , When Washington Was in Vogue casts a loving but critical eye on Black high society of 1920s Washington, D.C. A novel told in letters, this sly, humorous story was first published anonymously in the Black journal The Messenger...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060555459
• ISBN13: 9780060555450
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Amistad Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

So refined.

I love this book. My son gave it to me. So light, so wonderfull. A joy to read. I just wish we still spoke like that, it's music to the ears. African Americans,living a life, going to parties, traveling, socializing, dining in the 20's. No violence, Hate. Just a good time. Mr.Davvy Carr is a true gentlemen, the likes of which we have not seen today. I'd like to see it made into a movie, it would be great with Jeffrey Rush as Mr.Carr and for Caroline an unknown black actress. But who would go see it, no one gets shot or blown up, or nude. I say read this book, you may learn something, I know I did.

One of my favorite books!

I fell in love with the characters as they love, party, study, fight, and simply live as successful African Americans in the roaring 20's. I couldn't put it down.

A belated discovery

Reading WHEN WASHINGTON WAS IN VOGUE you will feel young again, even if the protagonist, Davy Carr, isn't as young as he used to be before the Great War, in which he served honorably. His letters to his friend Bob reveal, step by step, how he entered an uppermiddle class world of black society in Washington during the days of the 1920s, during Prohibition, and how he found acceptance in the household of a beautiful widow and her two exquisite daughters--one of them, Genevieve, ladylike and stunning, the other, Caroline, a true product of the Jazz Age, flirtatious, fun, and slightly scandalous. Davy's growing interest in Caroline is concealed even from himself, he seems like he's the last person in DC who can figure it out. Is it because she is so much younger than he is? The editor, Adam McKible Ph.D., hints that this state of affairs parallels Williams' own interests in much younger women, coeds in the great universities in which he served as a librarian, and he quotes from Zora Neale Hurston's memoirs of him flirting like crazy back and forth with young girls. McKible seems a little too taken with his own discovery of this novel, which is no masterpiece by any means, but let him pat himself on the back if he feels like he deserves it, he certainly has given us all some amusing moments and some poignant ones too. I'd like to see a movie version of this book, perhaps with Beyonce as the flirty Caroline and with Angela Bassett as the older and more dignified sister, Genevieve, and to play Captain Davy, who else but Samuel Jackson?

A captivating and well written love story

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. The style was unusual and very entertaining. Davy (the main character) detailed the characters so richly, it was easy to envisioned each person. I was especially drawn to Davy's use of colorful language. Several times I found myself stifling a laugh on the train and I didn't want the letters to end.I recently started a book club with several friends and "When Washington Was In Vogue" will definitely be a book we share together. Thanks to Professor McKible for a great discovery.

Good old-fashioned fun

What a wonderful find! I was drawn in from the first page, and enjoyed it thoroughly. The writing style was, fittingly, of another era, and I was amused by the creative use of language. (Thanks to Mr. Williams, I am now trying to find ways to slip phrases like "osculatory pyrotechnics" into conversation.) Maybe I'm just reading the wrong books, but it also seems to me I don't often see a love story written from the perspective of a very anxious, and very proper, young man. The characters are entertaining and the love story is sweet, but the historical backdrop and our hero's musings on the social scene around him are what I found most compelling. All in all, a good read, and a really fascinating insider's look at a time, place and social setting that I know little about.