The Trembling Network or a Sociology of Feeling: W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Quest of the Silver Fleece

Abstract

W. E. B. Du Bois begins his first novel, The Quest of the Silver Fleece (1911), with a note in which he explains that he cannot promise that the tale is told “well” or “beautifully,” pledging only that it is “honest” and that “In no fact or picture have I consciously set down aught the counterpart of which I have not seen or known; and whatever the finished picture may lack of completeness, this lack is due now to the story-teller, now to the artist, but never to the herald of the Truth.” Speaking to a sociological criterion of “Truth” and leaning on his background as a sociologist, as opposed to a craftsman, Du Bois attests that his novel is premised on his careful observations and experiences. While it might not have ultimately achieved “completeness