On September 3, 1899, a newspaper mentioned the publication of a new book by Alice Moore Dunbar, the wife of Paul Laurence Dunbar. The Goodness of St. Rocque contained fourteen short stories set in New Orleans where Alice was raised. Though she had released a previous volume four years earlier, The Goodness of St. Rocque was often misidentified as Alice's first book.
One of the books announced for early publication is "The Goodness of St. Rocque," a little volume of Creole stories, by Alice Moore Dunbar. A particular interest attaches to it from the fact that the author is the wife of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Her work will be found to have an individuality and charm of its own, while sharing some of the qualities found in the work of her husband. She is a native of New Orleans, and lived there until she came North to teach in one of the Brooklyn schools.
"Literary Notes." The Times (Washington, D. C.). September 3, 1899. Page 16.
Alice dedicated the book to "My best Comrade, My Husband." It was released by the New York firm of Dodd, Mead & Company, the same publisher that handled Paul's books.
Persons who have shown an interest in the poems, short stories, and novels of Paul Laurence Dunbar will be glad to hear that a volume of short stories which has come from the pen of his wife is now in press at Dodd, Mead & Co.'s. The book is entitled "The Goodness of St. Rocque." It is Mrs. Dunbar's first published work, and her tales deal with Creole life and character, and the scenes are for the most part laid in the vicinity of New Orleans, with all of which -- characters and stage settings -- Mrs. Dunbar should be familiar.
"Topics of the Week." The New York Times Saturday Review of Books and Art (New York, New York). August 26, 1899. Page 13.
We have from Messrs. Dodd, Mead & Co., in "The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories," by Alice Dunbar, a companion volume to "Poems of Cabin and Field," by Paul Laurence Dunbar, to whom, as her best comrade and husband, Mrs. Dunbar dedicates these stories of hers, which display a fair amount of invention and are very prettily written, with an enjoyable avoidance of the racial dialect which the name of the Dunbars is likely to suggest to contemporary readers.
New York Mail and Express (New York, New York). December 16, 1899.
"The Goodness of St. Rocque" is, to my mind, a first attempt of no little promise. To say that there is nothing amateurish about it would be flattery, but the young author has a "gift." Alice Dunbar married the well-known Negro poet a couple of years ago, under circumstances sufficiently romantic. She was known then to have tastes and talents similar to those of her husband; this book shows that the literary partnership, at any rate, has been successful. An era of Afro-American literature is about due now, and Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar have inaugurated it very successfully.
The Pittsburgh Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). December 25, 1899.
In her first letter to Paul years earlier, Alice denied the ability to write in dialect. However, characters in The Goodness of St. Rocque often spoke in dialect.
I am sorry to say that I have done very little. It seems I cannot possibly find time to write when I want. You ask my opinion about Negro dialect in literature. Well I frankly believe in everyone following his bent. If it be so that one has a special aptitude for dialect work, why it is only right that dialect work should be made a specialty. But if one should be like me -- absolutely devoid of the ability to manage dialect -- I don't see the necessity of cramming and forcing oneself into that plane because one is a Negro or a Southerner. Don't you think so? I hope I'm not treading on your corns.
Alice Ruth Moore to Paul Laurence Dunbar, May 7, 1895. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 1).
The praline woman sits by the side of the Archbishop's quaint little old chapel on Royal Street, and slowly waves her latanier fan over the pink and brown wares.
"Pralines, pralines. Ah, ma'amzelle, you buy? S'il vous plait, ma'amzelle, ces pralines, dey be fine, ver' fresh.
"Mais non, maman, you are not sure?
"Sho', chile, ma bebe, ma petite, she put dese up hissef. He's hans' so small, ma'amzelle, lak you's, mais brune. She put dese up dis morn'. You tak' none? No husban' fo' you den!
"Ah, ma petite, you tak'? Cinq sous, bebe, may le bon Dieu keep you good!"
Excerpt from "The Praline Woman," by Alice Moore Dunbar. Published in The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories. Dodd, Mead & Company (New York, New York). 1899. Page 175.
Despite favorable reviews, sales of The Goodness of St. Rocque were slow. A decade after its release, the book had not sold enough copies for Alice to earn a royalty from the publisher.
REPORT OF SALES from Feb 1/10 to date
From DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
To Miss Alice Dunbar
Of Goodness of St. Rocque
Still more returned than sold
523
No royalty until 1000 are sold
Royalty report from Dodd, Mead & Company, August 1, 1910. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 2).
Years later, Alice spoke disparagingly about her first book, Violets and Other Tales, but had a higher opinion of The Goodness of St. Rocque. She discouraged the bibliophile Arturo Alfonso Schomburg from adding Violets to his collection of Black literature, which grew into the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library.
I am heartily ashamed of "Violets" and would not have given Mr. Bolivar a copy had he not importuned me for it as a "curiosity." Perhaps Mr. Bolivar showed you a decenter volume, "The Goodness of St. Rocque." I am not so ashamed of that, though it is bad enough. Please don't want "Violets" in your collection; such sheer slop as that would spoil the whole.
Alice Moore Dunbar to Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, July 23, 1913. Quoted in Color, Sex and Poetry: Three Women Writers of the Harlem Renaissance, by Gloria T. Hull. Indiana University Press (Bloomington, Indiana). 1987. Page 37.