Finding the “Necessary Anguish”

Critics have been content to summarize Frank Yerby’s extensive oeuvre by claiming that after unsuccessful attempts to publish “This is My Own,” a protest novel, Yerby shifted his focus to “costume novels” centered on white characters in exotic settings. Critics continue by noting that in 1969 Yerby suddenly produced Speak Now, a novel centered around the story of a Black American expatriate musician who falls in love with a white Southern heiress. Some critics mention that between 1946 and 1969 Yerby produced a second “protest” novel, “The Tents of Shem,” which was twice rejected by publishers. The connection between Yerby’s first unpublished protest novel and his second, however, has never been explored. This chapter argues that “Tents” plays a crucial role in the evolution of Yerby’s work. “The Tents of Shem” is a bridge between early and late Yerby, one that helps to delineate both the continuity and the development of his politics and his art.