Jan 2, 2010

Fever | Introduction

Throughout his career, John Edgar Wideman has emerged as a prominent voice of the African-American consciousness. Yet, he does not narrow his field only to African-American issues. His work, demonstrating an understanding of the greater themes that affect people of all races, speaks a universal language.

Wideman has also shown a drive for literary exploration, constantly searching for new ways to tell his stories. These characteristics combine in the title story of his 1989 short story collection, Fever. The author calls the challenging and complex ‘‘Fever’’ a ‘‘meditation on history.’’ Through its examination of Philadelphia’s 1793 yellow fever epidemic, it explores the racial ambiguities that exist in society. Wideman draws on real-life events and people to give his story a more credible and human feel. As his narrators explore the problems brought on by the fever, they present a concrete picture of the devastation the epidemic leaves behind, both in physical and emotional terms. Readers and critics alike admire ‘‘Fever’’ for its literary risks as well the significance of Wideman’s message. Critics have consistently noted that it is one of his most ambitious pieces of short fiction.

Fever Summary

The story opens in Philadelphia in 1793. The city, one of the centers of commerce and culture of the early United States, is gripped in the throes of a yellow fever epidemic. Those people with the means have fled the infected city, while the poor have been forced to remain behind, most likely to die. The city has essentially closed down.

The story’s primary narrator is an African- American man called Allen. Although Allen has a wife and daughter, he has chosen to stay in the city, where he works for Dr. Rush, a practitioner determined to treat the fever’s victims and understand the cause of the disease. Allen, once the founder of an African-American church, now spends his days caring for the sick and dying and burying the dead.

According to white Philadelphians, the disease has been brought to the city by slaves from Santo Domingo (present-day Haiti). This belief is based, not on any scientific evidence, but merely on racist ideas. Since the fever first began to spread, African Americans have been treated as pariahs; however, their services as caregivers and cemetery... » Complete Fever Summary