The Soul of Du Bois

Shibi Murali B. Evans 12/8/10 The Soul of Du Bois The problem of W.E.B. Du Bois autobiographical genre begins with his tangential structuring of passages. As a result of his inability to maintain chronological form, the texts The Souls of Black Folks, The Conservation of Races, Darkwater, and Dusk of Dawn are compilations of incidents in Du Bois’s life and mind. These texts seek to provide commentary on whatever Du Bois wants. This considers a wide range of topics and issues, from segregation, racial lines, black self-awareness and more. Du Bois expands on the autobiographical genre by going beyond the topic of his own life to create an autobiography of a “concept”. This broad range of topics under consideration has created critical concern as to whether Du Bois’s works can be truly classified as autobiographical. However, Du Bois’s inability to detach his own voice and perspective from his narratives allows him to maintain the autobiographical genre. Many of the issues, segregation, racial inequalities, persist throughout Du Bois’s life. But Du Bois constantly asks the question “Who am I?” Du Bois offers his own life as the prime example of the black struggle as he seeks to define The Souls of Black Folk. Du Bois attempts to remove his fiery interpretations in his final work Dusk of Dawn, but maintains the autobiographical genre by continuing to offer observations and findings from his own life. As an author obsessed with blending his own life into the larger American story, the purpose of Du Bois autobiographies thus becomes to catalogue the significant self-revisions of his opinions towards the “concepts” and problems of race, segregation, and indeed, himself. Du Bois constant need to create an abstract of the race problem in America reflects

his inability to reach his goal of removing his own biases from his autobiography. In the “Apology” preceding Dusk of Dawn, Du Bois offers his desire to change his style of writing. Du Bois dedicates the focus of Dusk...