Title: Rupert Gray: A Tale in Black and White
Author: Stephen N. Cobham
Edited by: Lise Winer with annotations and introduction by Bridget Brereton.
Publishers: Rhonda Cobham, Mary Rimmer and Lise Winer.
Caribbean Heritage Series, Volume III.
Kingston: University of the West Indies Press, 2006. 171 pages.
Reviewed by : Mary Hanna
Rupert Gray (1907) is the third volume in the Caribbean Heritage series, which is designed to publish new editions of historically significant fictional works from the region. The first three volumes are from Trinidad and span the years 1838 to 1907 - earlier than any previously known novels, predating Alfred Mendes's Pitch Lake (1934) by many years. The republications of the original texts have extensive scholarly introductions and thorough annotations; they are most suitable for classroom or academic usage, but are also a delight to the curious lay reader. The first volume of the series is E.L. Joseph's Warner Arundell: The Adventures of a Creole (1838); the second volume comprises two novels: Adolphus, A Tale (by Anonymous, 1853) and Mrs Wilkins's The Slave Son (1834). All the novels in the series contain a strong political thrust calling for the rights of all races - a trend that is typical of West Indian novels. Taken together, these four texts show that there is a much older local literary foundation than has been realised, and it is now thought that Warner Arundell may be the first Caribbean novel in the English speaking tradition.
Stephen Cobham, author of Rupert Gray, was very likely a black or mixed-race teacher who became a law clerk, but first and foremost he was also a poet who gave lectures on literary topics. His protagonist, Rupert Gray, was perhaps based on Henry Sylvester Williams, an African-Trinidadian lawyer educated in England who was a major figure in the Pan-African Association. Cobham's novel is a rollicking romance melodrama with powerful scenes of racial clash and challenge that lead up to a desperate climax and then a happy ending. Rupert Gray, a highly educated Negro accountant of noble character, is caught up in an interracial courtship with Gwendoline Serle, the daughter of his employer in Trinidad. Violent parental disapproval is only part of the burden of social scorn that the couple encounters. A series of tragic events culminates in a melodramatic courtroom scene where reversals lead to a positive ending for the lovers with the support of loyal friends. The tale has the gritty tang of veracity despitethe melodramatic effects - Gray is shot by the irate father, who then banishes his daughter to a kind of living death in his household and proceeds to drink himself to death. These scenes of conflict are powerfully drawn and, indeed, difficult to put down. I found myself reading right through the novel without pause and enjoying every page of it. In the dramatic shooting scene, Cobham writes:
Gwendoline leaped forward. With one frightened scream that rose clear above the silent night, she sprang between. At once weak and strong, some women are quick and resourceful. The blood of both the Serles was up - father to destroy, daughter to save. Shielding Rupert Gray with both arms thrust behind, she faced her father.
Rupert Gray lives to travel to England and extensively in Europe before returning to Trinidad as a lawyer to find his lady love again. Gwendoline is nurtured by her Scottish friend, Dr. Florence Badenock, and her loyal maid, Edith. The villain, Jacob Clarke, who betrayed the lovers to the deranged father, meets his just deserts. He is the more dastardly for having accepted Rupert Gray's friendship and helping hand when he was down and out.
These stock characters of the romance melodrama are well drawn and convincingly portrayed; the dialogue crackles with energy and controversial opinions typical of Trinidad at the beginning of the century. For example, Gwendoline's father makes his feelings clear at the dinner table before her fateful meeting with her lover. Mr Serle says:
'We are ready to receive the black man with open arms into the professions, the service of the Crown, and in commerce, but when it comes to mixing up in the company of our wives, and wanting to marry our daughters - I say, 'No, sir.' I say to them just what Canute said to the waves: 'Thus far and no farther.''
The scholars note in their introduction that Canute could not hold back the waves anymore than the lovers could be kept apart.
The scholarly introduction is a fine frame for Cobham's tale, addressing the questions of the 'Caribbean Heritage' novels in Trinidad; the biography of Stephen Nathaniel Cobham; the historical context of the novel (Trinidad at the start of the 20th century); the literary context of the novel; and notes on editorial procedures. It is well written and informative, a superb addition to the tale itself. The annotations are, if anything, too detailed, but better to err on the side of too much than too little. This is a truly well-researched text, beautifully presented, and the story itself is a valuable addition to the literary tradition. The discussion it contains of racial relations in the early 20th century in Trinidad is forcefully presented, and the case it makes for racial uplift without decolonisation (the position taken by intellectuals at that time) is well argued. Rupert Gray contains many topical references to foremost black intellectuals of the day and makes interesting reading for this reason also.
Bridget Brereton and Rhonda Cobham are well-known Caribbean scholars in the fields of history and English, respectively. Lise Winer is associate professor in the Faculty of Education, at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Mary Rimmer is professor of English at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada. With Rupert Gray, this team of scholars has compiled a fine addition to the Caribbean Heritage Series - a novel that is historically important and also entertaining. It is a welcome text that will be enjoyed by a wide range of readers.
- Mary Hanna
