The Garies and Their Friends (Broadview Editions) - Softcover

Webb, Frank J.

3.89

248 ratings by Goodreads

9781554811519: The Garies and Their Friends (Broadview Editions)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1554811511 ISBN 13: 9781554811519

Publisher: Broadview Press, 2016

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Unjustly overlooked in its own time, Frank J. Webb’s novel of pre-Civil War Philadelphia weaves together action, humor, and social commentary. The Garies and Their Friends tells the story of two families struggling for different sorts of respectability: the Garies, a well-to-do interracial couple who relocate to Philadelphia from the plantation South in order to legalize their marriage, and their friends the Ellises, free black Philadelphians hoping to make the move from the working class into the bourgeoisie. Along the way the families confront racialized violence, melodramatic villainy, and sentimental reversals. Entertaining and fast-moving, the novel has a Dickensian mix of uncanny coincidence and interwoven personal experiences.

The historical documents accompanying this Broadview Edition provide reviews of the novel along with extensive materials on slavery, the color line, and contemporary Philadelphia.

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About the Author:

William Huntting Howell is Assistant Professor of English at Boston University.

Megan Walsh is Assistant Professor of English at St. Bonaventure University..

'"And how do you like your house?' asked Mrs. Stevens; 'it is on the same plan as ours, and we find ours very convenient. They both formerly belonged to Walters... Do you intend to buy?' 'It is very probable that we shall, if we continue to like Philadelphia,' answered Mr. Garie. 'I'm delighted to hear that,' rejoined she―'... ever since Mr. Stevens purchased our house we have been tormented with the suspicion that Walters would put a family of niggers in his.' Mr. Garie here interrupted her by making some remark quite foreign to the subject, with the intention, no doubt, of drawing her off this topic. The attempt was, however, an utter failure, for she continued―'I think all those that are not slaves ought to be sent out of the country back to Africa, where they belong: they are, without exception, the most ignorant, idle, miserable set I ever saw.' 'I think,' said Mr. Garie, 'I can show you at least one exception...'"―from The Gaeries and Their Friends

"It is remarkable that, even as the study of African American literature and culture has become central to any number of projects within American intellectual life, so little attention has been given a work as significant as Frank J. Webb's The Garies and Their Friends."―from the 1997 introduction by Robert Reid-Pharr

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