Romancing the Body Politic: Du Bois's Propaganda of the Dark World

Although best known for his work as a sociologist, historian, and editor, W.E.B. Du Bois also authored numerous works of fiction and poetry. Despite their dismissal by critics as not much more than failed experiments that test the boundary separating poetry and prose, this article suggests that Du Bois's acts of creative composition are driven by his desire to exert critical force as part of his contribution to the effort of studying "Negro problems." Du Bois's creative writing can be understood as recapitulations of his enterprise as a social scientist and as an attempt to dramatize the workings of the American body politic. As social scientist, Du Bois manifests a vision of what his training allowed him to assert through organized, scientific study. However, as creative writer, Du Bois mediates this project by positing the need for heroic action in issues of gender and sexuality and presents a way to think about African American representations of masculinity in the twentieth century.