W. E. B. Du Bois and the Idea of Double Consciousness
Author(s): Dickson D. Bruce Jr.
Reviewed work(s):
Source: American Literature, Vol. 64, No. 2 (Jun., 1992), pp. 299-309
Published by: Duke University Press
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DicksonD.
BruceJr.
W. E. B. Du BoisandtheIdea
ofDoubleConsciousness
Asscholarshavedevelopeda greaterunderstanding
to theAmericantradiofAfricanAmericanliterature
ofthe importance
forthecriticalplace of
tion,theyhavealso developeda realappreciation
and thattradition
the thoughtofW.E. B. Du Bois in boththatliterature
theyhavefocusedon thefamous
century.In particular,
in thetwentieth
passage fromDu Bois's 1897Atlanticmagazineessay, "Strivingsofthe
withrevisions,in TheSouls o Black
Negro People"-later republished,
Folk (1903)-in whichDu Bois spoke of an AfricanAmerican"double
consciousness,"a "two-ness"ofbeing"anAmerican,a Negro;twowaralonekeeps itfrom
ringidealsin one darkbody,whosedoggedstrength
beingtornasunder."1
issues
Du Bois's use oftheideaofdoubleconsciousnesstocharacterize
however,as has onlyoccasionofrace was provocative
andunanticipated;
allybeennotedandneverreallypursued,thetermitselfhada longhistory
by the timeDu Bois publishedhis essay in 1897. Du Bois wroteabout
doubleconsciousnessina waythatdrewheavilyon thathistoryto create
in boththeessay and the later
a fairlycoherentpatternofconnotations
book. The backgroundof meaningwhichthe termevokedwouldhave
been familiarto many,ifnotmost,ofthe educatedmiddle-and upperclass readers of theAtlantic,one of the foremostpopularjournalsof
muchto theunderstanding
lettersoftheday,andshouldhavecontributed
ofDu Bois's arguments
bythosereaders.
In usingtheterm"doubleconsciousness,"Du Bois drewon twomain
a productofEuropean
sources. One ofthese was essentiallyfigurative,
The other,notentirely
Romanticism
and AmericanTranscendentalism.
by historianArnoldRampersadin his
unrelatedand mentionedbriefly
?) 1992 by Duke UniAmericanLiterature,Volume64, Number2, June1992. Copyright
versityPress. CCC 0002-9831/92/$1.50.
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Literature
300 American
medical,carriedforward
own analysisof Du Bois's work,was initially
Here the term
intoDu Bois's timebytheemergingfieldofpsychology.
by the
"doubleconsciousness"was appliedto cases ofsplitpersonality;
century,it had come intoquite generaluse not onlyin
late nineteenth
research
butalso indiscussionsofpsychological
publications
professional
publishedforgeneralaudiencesas well.2
sourcesforDu Bois's ideaofdoubleconsciousnessarein
The figurative
fromnineteenthone can identify
some waysthemosttelling.Although
centuryliteratureseveralpossibleprecedentsforDu Bois's use of the
forexample,or GeorgeEliot-WernerSollorshas
term-fromWhittier,
as Emersonian,and indeedone of
background
describedthisfigurative
the earliestsuch occurrencesof the termmaybe foundin Emerson's
a piece he
works. In an 1843 essay entitled"The Transcendentalist,"
had deliveredearlieras a lecture,Emersonemployedtheterm"double
consciousness"to referto a problemin thelifeofone seekingto takea
he wrote,the
perspectiveon selfandworld.Constantly,
Transcendental
of
life.The
daily
from
the
demands
is pulledback
thedivineby
individual
and thismakeshis
knows"momentsofillumination,"
Transcendentalist
because he thensees his life,fromthe
situationall the moredifficult,
bymeanness
perspectivethosemomentscreate,as toomuchdominated
of
"The
feature
thisdouble
As
Emerson
worst
wrote,
andinsignificance.
andofthesoul,
consciousnessis, thatthetwolives,oftheunderstanding
whichhe leads, reallyshowverylittlerelationto eachother:one prevails
andparadise;
now,all buzz anddin;theotherprevailsthen,all infinitude
no
to
disposition
of
the
two
discover
greater
the
life,
progress
and,with
issues, Emersonused
reconcilethemselves."Concernedwithdifferent
thetermin a waythatwas notexactlythesame as Du Bois's. But there
to makeEmerson'sa usefulbackground
was morethanenoughsimilarity
to whatDu Bois was trying
to say.3
evokeda set of opposiIn Emerson'sessay, "double-consciousness"
inTranscendentalism,
and,as other
tionsthathadbecomecommonplace
generally.In the passage itself
scholarshave shown,in Romanticism
and "thesoul,"buteven
between"theunderstanding"
was a dichotomy
thatreferredto a moregeneralset, all organizedarounda centraldivision betweenworldand spirit.The doubleconsciousnessplaguingthe
summarizedthe downwardpull of lifein societyTranscendentalist
genuineself-realization-andthe
includingthe social forcesinhibiting
withthedivine;theapparentchaos ofthingsupwardpullofcommunion
andtheunityofNaturecomprehended
byuniversallaw; and
as-they-are
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Du Bois'sIdeaofDoubleConsciousness301
societyandthesearchfor
ofcommercial
coldrationality
thedemanding,
Truth,Beauty,and Goodness-especially Beauty-that ennobledthe
soul. Humanbeings,in the world,couldnotescape its downwardpull.
was an essentialpartoflivingone's life.The Transcendental
The worldly
doubleconsciousnessgrewoutofan awarenessthatNatureandthesoul
were so muchmore.4
partofDu Bois's arguA similarset ofoppositionswas an important
in the essay Du
mentin his "Strivingsof the NegroPeople." Although
Bois used "doubleconsciousness"to referto at least threedifferent
issues-includingfirstthereal powerofwhitestereotypesin blacklife
and thoughtand second the doubleconsciousnesscreatedby the pracof
ticalracismthatexcludedeveryblackAmericanfromthemainstream
thesociety,thedoubleconsciousnessofbeingbothan Americanandnot
an American-by doubleconsciousnessDu Bois referredmostimporbetween
in theAfricanAmericanindividual
tantlyto an internalconflict
Itwas intermsofthisthird
andwhatwas "American."
whatwas "African"
to "doubleconsciousness"gave the
background
sense thatthefigurative
termitsmostobvioussupport,because forDu Bois theessence ofa disbased in
a spirituality
tinctiveAfricanconsciousnesswas its spirituality,
theirhisAmericansin theirfolklore,
AfricabutrevealedamongAfrican
andtheirfaith.In thissense, doubleconscioustoryofpatientsuffering,
to privilegethe spiritualin
to Du Bois's efforts
ness relatedparticularly
worldofwhiteAmerica."Negro
commercial
relationto thematerialistic,
bloodhas a message fortheworld,"he wrote,and thismessage, as he
sense anda softenhadbeen sayingsinceat least 1888,was ofa spiritual
world.
thatblackpeoplecouldbringto a coldandcalculating
inginfluence
eye" one
WhatShermanPaul says ofEmerson'sstresson the"feminine
mayalso say of Du Bois's stress on the Africansoul, thatit serves as
to "see" apartfromthepossibilities
to a dominant
inability
an alternative
a notionDu Bois playedon when,guidedbyhis imforactionandprofit,
Americanas gifted
portantfigureofthe"veil,"he describedtheAfrican
5
witha kindof"secondsight."
Du
Using"doubleconsciousness"thusplacedtheAfricanspirituality
Bois soughtto celebratein connectionwitha more generalbody of
thisconnectionwitha
Romanticideas and imagery.Du Bois reinforced
as
fromRomanticism
allusions
drawn
web of allusionsand oppositions,
Some have been notedin
well as fromEmersonianTranscendentalism.
the past; othershave not.Sollors,forexample,has citedthe Goethean
basis forDu Bois's imageofthe "twosouls warringin one darkbody,"
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Literature
302 American
referring
back to Faust's anguishedcry that"Two souls, alas! reside
a
withinmybreast,/Andeach withdraws
from,andrepels,itsbrother,"
passage thatJoelPortehas arguedwas probablya sourceforthe ideas
to whichEmersonhimselfappliedtheterm"doubleconsciousness."Du
Bois also contrastedwhathe describedas a blackAmerican"hopeofa
highersynthesisofcivilization
andhumanity"
withan alternative
search
for"reception
intocharmedsocialcirclesofstock-jobbers,
pork-packers,
and earl-hunters,"
callingto mindnot onlythe Emersoniandistinction
betweenthematerialandtheidealbutalso theEmersonianidentification
ofthematerialwiththe"buzzanddin"ofcommercial
society.Whatever
else Du Bois thought
oftheAfrican
andofitsdistinctive
character
spirituality,whenhe spokeofitintermsofdoubleconsciousnessandembedded
intermsof
itina web ofreadilyidentifiable
allusions,he gaveitdefinition
a moregeneralRomantic
ofthehumansoul. Converting
recognition
what
had oftenbeen a racistor racialistprimitivism
intoa Romanticprimitivism, he lentmuchmoreweightto his assertionof the possibilityof an
Africanmessage to theworld.6
Such a conversionwas a majorsourceoftheappealofDu Bois's preFarfrom
tomaterialism.
as an alternative
sentationofAfrican
spirituality
a posoffering
an eccentric"message,"African
Americanidealsoffered
sible directionforAmericansocietythatcould be appreciatedby Du
Bois's readers.As suchscholarsas KarlMillerandJacksonLears have
UnitedStates of the late ninestressed, in the rapidlyindustrializing
teenthcenturytherewas a real hunger,especiallyon the part of the
middleclass, fora revivalofthespiritual;therewas even,as Millerand
HenriEllenbergerhaveargued,a renewedinterestthroughout
theWest
in Romanticconceptionsofhumannatureandhumanpossibility,
includingthatpositivesense ofalienation
thatThomasHolthas discussedwith
regardto Du Bois's ideas. Double consciousnessand the collectionof
Romanticallusionsin whichit was placedthushelpedto give definition
andAfrican
Americandistinctiveness
Du
to thepositivesense ofAfrican
inthe"African"
a kindofalternaBois was trying
to develop,andto offer
tiveto Americanmaterialism
withwhichmanyinan educatedreadership
It is notsurprising,
couldsympathize.
then,thatwhenDu Bois gavea still
fullerstatement
ofhisviewsinTheSoulsofBlackFolkhe also elaborated
on thesame patternofallusions,eveninhisattackon thematerialism
of
BookerWashington.7
to doubleconsciousnessmay
Still,tellingas thefigurative
background
inimportant
havebeen, thatbackground
was supplemented
waysbythe
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Du Bois'sIdeaofDoubleConsciousness303
meaningto Du Bois's idea of
sources thatgave additional
psychological
doubleconsciousness.Despite theworkofsuchscholarsas KarlMiller
thereremainsan unexplored
pathbetweena genandHenriEllenberger,
and
eral concernaboutdualityas an elementofEuropeanRomanticism
and the workofthosemedicalscientists
AmericanTranscendentalism,
who developed"doubleconsciousness"as a diagnosticterm,one with
a well-defined
technicalmeaningby the timeDu Bois used it. Again,
background
ofthispsychological
ArnoldRampersadhas notedsomething
to "doubleconsciousness,"citingits appearancein OswaldKuilpe's1893
psychologytextas well as the use of the idea, ifnot the term,in The
writtenby Du Bois's HarvardmentorWilliam
PrinciplesofPsychology,
Jamesand publishedin 1890 at theverytimeDu Bois was at Harvard.
But, in fact,as a medicalterm"doubleconsciousness"alreadyhad a
longhistoryby the 1890s, havingbeen the subjectof ratherextensive
years. One cannot
and debateforat least seventy-five
experimentation
the firstuse of "doubleconsciousness"in
withcertainty
reallyidentify
the medicalliterature.Certainlyit came fairlyearlyin the nineteenth
ofit to TranscendentalEmerson'sapplication
century,even antedating
hadgreatrelevanceto Du Bois's
historyofdevelopment
ism. Its lengthy
oftheNegroPeople."8
ownuse of"doubleconsciousness"in "Strivings
journalcalledtheMedicalReposiIn 1817,in a New Yorkprofessional
tory,an accountheaded"A DoubleConsciousness,ora DualityofPerson
inthesame Individual"
madeuse ofthetermina waythatremainedfairly
The accountwas
century.
thenineteenth
through
constantforpsychology
as MaryReynolds-whoat aboutage
ofa youngwoman-lateridentified
nineteenfellintoa deep sleep fromwhichshe awokewithno memoryof
A fewmonthslater,
personality.
whoshe was andwitha whollydifferent
intoa deep sleep,she awokeas heroldself.Atthetime
afteragainfalling
alternatedselvesfora periodof
ofthe 1817account,she hadperiodically
or
foraboutfifteen
aboutfouryears.As itturnedout,thiswas tocontinue
she permanently
entered
sixteenyearsin total,untilin hermid-thirties
separate;whileinone, she
thesecondstate.Her twoliveswereentirely
of
had no knowledgeor memoryoftheother.Suchutterdistinctiveness
refer
thetwoselves was whatmadetheeditorsoftheMedicalRepository
to hersas a case of"doubleconsciousness."9
As a resultof the MaryReynoldscase, the term"doubleconsciousextensiveuse. For example,FrancisWayland's
ness" enteredintofairly
PhitextbookElementsofIntellectual
influential
mid-nineteenth-century
treatedtheconceptofdoubleconsciousnessas partofa general
losophy
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Literature
304 American
discussionof consciousnessas suchand recountedthe Mary Reynolds
An 1860 articlein
case alongwitha fewothersby way of illustration.
Harper'salso focusedon theReynoldscase andon doubleconsciousness
issue. As a medicalterm,then,it was
as a medicaland philosophical
to theuse ofmedicalprofessionals.10
hardlyconfined
American
hisideasofAfrican
DuringthetimeDu Bois was formulating
indoubleconsciousness
therehadbeenrenewedinterest
distinctiveness,
forDu Bois was the
issue. Most important
as a medicaland theoretical
thisinterrole ofhis HarvardmentorWilliamJames.Jamesstimulated
whathe called"alternating
est, notonlyinhisPrinciples-indescribing
and secondaryconsciousness,"he drewon a body
selves" or "primary
Frenchworkwhichhad been widelypublicizedin the
of contemporary
UnitedStates as well-but also as a resultofhis ownexperienceabout
1890witha notableAmericancase ofdoubleconsciousness,thatofAnsel
RichardHodgson,
Bourne.James'sworkwithBourne(whosediscoverer,
diduse "doubleconsciousness"to labelthecase), as wellas theAmerican
ofthe Frenchstudieson whichJamesdrew,occurredat the
publication
withJameswas at itsclosest.Whether
same timeDu Bois's relationship
Jamesand Du Bois talkedaboutit at the timeis impossibleto say,but
based on Du Bois's use of "doubleconsciousness"in hisAtlanticessay
background,
he certainlyseems to haveknowntheterm'spsychological
withthatbackground.1"
because he used itin waysquiteconsistent
literatureof doubleconsciousnesslookeddirectly
The psychological
as thatissue was developedin Du Bois's
to the issue ofdistinctiveness
providedby
a framework
within
essay. Du Bois discusseddistinctiveness
an
thatJamesand othershad drawnout,providing
severalimplications
argument.
of
his
thrust
the
general
with
consistent
structure
intellectual
idea of doubleconsciousnessfurther
For one thing,the psychological
whatDu Bois had emphasizedas the genuinelyalternative
reinforced
characterofAfricanAmericanideals. In theclassiccases ofdoubleconfromeach other
werenotjustdifferent
sciousness,thedualpersonalities
in opposition.MaryReynoldsin her firststate was
but were inevitably
"sedate, soberand pensive";in hersecond,"gayand cheerful,extravajokes." Similarcontrastswere
gantlyfondofsociety,offunandpractical
drawnin othercases. Double consciousnessthusentaileda real opposiwithina singlebody.12
tionbetweenthetwoconsciousnessesconfined
Moreover,as earlierwritershadmadeplain,inclassiccases ofdouble
itcould
itselfwas clearlyabnormal,
thecondition
consciousness,although
was moreobviously"normal"or funcnotbe said thateitherpersonality
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Du Bois'sIdeaofDoubleConsciousness305
tionalthanthe other.In theReynoldscase, forexample,commentators
notedherintellectual
acuityinbothstates,as wellas thefactthat,settling
in her secondstate,she neverthelessspentherremaining
permanently
years as a productive,respectable,and respectedmemberof society.
Ofanotherinfluential
case, thatoftheyoungFrenchwomanFelidaX, it
was emphasizedthatshe showedbothintelligence
and a good sense of
inbothstates,ifa weakerwillinhersecondself.
morality
ofideas andfactsmadetheconceptofdoubleconSuch a background
sciousness especiallyusefulto Du Bois, givenhis desire to developa
African
herioutofa distinctively
positivesense ofracialdistinctiveness
in thelatenineteenth
tage. Ideas ofrace andbehaviorwereproblematic
like cultural
century.Notionsof "culture"and, especially,of anything
relativism
wererudimentary
andnotwidespreadat thetime."Race"itself
carriedbiologicalconnotations-connotations
not entirelyabsentfrom
Du Bois's discussion-thatweretroublesome,
sincebiologicalnotionsof
blackinferiority
race servedmainlyto groundthosebeliefsconcerning
whichwere generallyacceptedbywhites.Thus, forgood reason,black
writersand intellectualsfeltreal ambivalenceaboutthe kindsof ideas
aboutracialdistinctiveness
Du Bois was trying
to portray,
howeverpositivetheymightappearon the surface.Indeed,Du Bois himselfshowed
fromthisperiod.13
suchambivalencein otherwritings
Because theidea ofdoubleconsciousnessexplicitly
emphasizedtheinof
in
states theindividual
whowas itssubject,ithelped
tegrity distinctive
so long
Du Bois to get aroundthe dilemmahis idea of distinctiveness
had posed. Double consciousnessallowedfora sense ofdistinctiveness
thatreallydidentailequality,a sense ofdistinctiveness
thatdidnotimply
inferiority.
It gave himpreciselythevocabularyhe neededto makethe
case he wantedto make. In the absence of anykindof adequate idea
ofculturalrelativism,
theidea ofdoubleconsciousnessallowedDu Bois
to talkabout an Africanmode of thoughtand whatwe wouldnow call
a culturalconflict
betweentheAfricanand theAmericanin a wayvery
likethatmade possiblebya notionofrelativism.
Thus he couldbase his
discussionon a bodyofpsychological
established
knowledgemorefirmly
of different
but equally
duringhis time,one identifying
the possibility
functional
waysofdealingwiththeworld.
None of thiswas to minimizeforhimthe tragiccharacterofAfrican
Americanlife.One ofthethingshis use oftheconceptdidwas to imply
thatifwhatwas distinctive
was notto be seen as abnormal,
thecondition
ofAfricanAmericans-giventhe rootsofdoubleconsciousness-was.
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Literature
306 American
Evenas theRomantic
idea,withitsechoesofSturmundDrang,highincompatible
souls,
lighted
thedifficulty
ofresolution
inthewarbetween
Alltheaccounts
so toothepsychological
literature
stressed
itsdifficulty.
greatanguish,
theirreal
ofdoubleconsciousness
reported
itssufferers'
awareoftheir
condition,
theirdesiretoposunhappiness
uponbecoming
self.
sess a singleindividual
Forhimthe
Du Bois obviously
didnotbreakfrom
sucha treatment.
as a sympwasitsproblematic
character
essenceofdoubleconsciousness
ofanytrueselfconscioustomofthedifficulty
thatlayintherealization
senseconveyed
inthe
ness,ofanysenseofselfbeyond
theproblematic
dilemma
as such.
Du Boisdidproposea kindofresolution,
atleastforthatdoubleconsciousness
of"African"
and"American"
selves.Itwas,hewrote,forthe
African
American
"tomergehisdoubleselfintoa betterandtruerself,"
was knownto the
losing"neither
oftheolderselves."Ifthedilemma
ofresolution
Romantics
andthepsychologists
alike,Du Bois'srhetoric
Du Bois'smentor
onthemedical
background.
drewwithspecialclarity
ofa realcureforalteronthepossibility
William
Jameshadspeculated
ofoneovertheotherbuta
nating
consciousness
involving
notthevictory
cametogether,"
ina
resulting
processwhereby
"thedissociated
systems
newSelf,"different
from
theothertwo,butknowing
theirobjects
third,
inhisearliertext,hadciteda case ofjust
FrancisWayland,
together."
a young
woman's
resucha cureof"doubleconsciousness,"
oneinwhich
oftheknowledge
acquired
coverywasmarked
by"theblending
together
in[her]separateconditions,"
a blending
succeeded
bya processinwhich
thetesthetwoconsciousnesses
"becamemoreandmoreidentified
until
ofconsciousness
becameuninterrupted
andthentheabnormal
timony
inhersecondstate
statevanished
settling
altogether."
MaryReynolds's
mourned
forwhatshehadlostwithherinitial
wasnota cure;sheoften
which
self.Curecameinsynthesis,
andlaterJamesbelievedto
Wayland
be possible.14
ofsuch
Du Boishimself
wasnotentirely
certain
aboutthepossibility
a synthesis.
TheAtlantic
leavesthequestionopen,
essayinparticular
moreontheproblem
thanonanypossibility
foritsresolution.
focusing
OnereasonforthismayhavebeenthatDu Boiswasattempting
a rhetoriofhisown,onethatwasnoteasyto accomplish,
cal synthesis
between
twokeysensesofdoubleconsciousness-the
one createdbyracism;
theother,
onlife-neverreally
distinguishing
byconflicting
perspectives
Thekeydifference
thetwowasa quesbetweenthemhimself.
between
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Du Bois'sIdeaofDoubleConsciousness307
andAmericanselveswas, or at least
tionofwill.The mergingofAfrican
couldbe, an act ofwill,andDu Bois so treatedit. The mergingofselves
loosely,
thedistinction
createdbyAmericanracismwas not.By treating
more
managethe
latter
seem
Du Bois mayhave been hopingto make
able, an aspectofa moregeneralduality.But,as theAtlanticessay itself
indicates,the resolutionwas one Du Bois himselfhad notfullyworked
despite
literature,
out,andneithertheEmersoniannorthepsychological
for
how
to
do
it.
of
a
guide
gave
him
much
ofthelatter,
theoptimism
Du Bois was withallthebackOne cannotknowforcertainhowfamiliar
or medicalsources.
groundon doubleconsciousnesseitherfromliterary
withboth;thereis no
His use ofthe termsuggeststhathe was familiar
compellingevidencethathe soughtto be closer to or moreconsistent
withone or the other.Instead,whenhe talkedaboutdoubleconsciousfor
ness, Du Bois was usinga termthatset up a varietyofconnotations
to give his readersa referthe educatedreader,thusmakingan effort
the tragedyof racism,
ence pointon the basis of whichto understand
andalso to appreciatehisown
individual,
especiallyfortheself-conscious
of whatit meantto be blackin America.
programfora new definition
influenceof his worksuggeststhe extentto whichhe
The continuing
succeeded.
Irvine
ofCalifornia,
University
Notes
1
2
3
4
W.E. B. Du Bois, "Strivingsof the Negro People,"Atlantic80 (August
1897): 194; Du Bois, TheSoulsofBlackFolk(1903;rpt.,NewYork:Penguin,
1989), 5.
ArnoldRampersad,TheArt and Imaginationof W E. B. Du Bois (1976;
rpt.,New York:Schocken,1990), 74.
Greenleaf
JohnGreenleafWhittier,
"AmongtheHills,"in The WorksofJohn
7 vols. (Boston: Houghton,Mifflin,
1892), 1:274; George Eliot,
Whittier,
"The LiftedVeil,"in The CompleteWorksof GeorgeEliot, 20 vols. (Boston: ColonialPress, n.d.) 20:281, 313; WernerSollors,BeyondEthnicity:
Consentand DescentinAmericanCulture(New York:OxfordUniv.Press,
1986), 249. See also Sollors,"OfMules andMares ina Land ofDifference;
42 (1990): 182; and RalphWaldo
or, QuadrupedsAll?"AmericanQuarterly
in TheSelectedWritings
ofRalphWaldo
Emerson,"The Transcendentalist,"
Emerson,ed. BrooksAtkinson(New York:ModernLibrary,1940), 100.
TheDivided
Self.A Perspective
ontheLiterature
oftheVicMasaoMiyoshi,
torians(New York:New YorkUniv.Press, 1969),esp. chap.2; KarlMiller,
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308 AmericanLiterature
History(New York:OxfordUniv.Press, 1985),
Doubles:Studiesin Literary
21. Whittier's
use oftheterm,whichoccurredin 1869,verymuchcaptured
thisEmersoniansense.
5 Du Bois, "Strivings,"
194, 195; ShermanPaul, Emerson'sAngleofVision:
Man and NatureinAmericanExperience
(Cambridge:HarvardUniv.Press,
1952),76-77; see NathanHuggins,"W.E. B. Du BoisandHeroes,"Amerikaaestheticism"
studien34 (1989): 172-73.WilsonMoses notesthe"feminine
ofa romanticized
imageryofAfricaon whichDu Bois drew,
ofthetradition
W.E. B. Du Bois and Literary
in his article"The PoeticsofEthiopianism:
AmericanLiterature
47 (1975): 415. It was to describea
BlackNationalism,"
kindof"secondsight,"one mightnote,thatEliotused theterminherstory
withtheinteresting
title"The LiftedVeil."
6 JohannWolfgangVon Goethe, Faust, trans. BayardTaylor(New York:
Arden,n.d.), 68; Sollors,"OfMules and Mares," 182; JoelPorte, "Emer41
son, Thoreau,and the Double Consciousness,"NewEnglandQuarterly
100.
197; Emerson,SelectedWritings,
(1968): 41, 50; Du Bois, "Strivings,"
Du Bois's stresson an Africanspirituality
was, ofcourse,farfromnew in
has labeled "Romanitself,and maybe tied to whatGeorge Fredrickson
withtheabolitionists,
or whatWilsonMoses has
ticracialism,"originating
TheBlack Imagein
describedas "Ethiopianism."
See GeorgeFredrickson,
Character
and Destiny,1817theWhiteMind: TheDebateonAfro-American
1914 (NewYork:Harper,1971),103; Moses, "ThePoeticsofEthiopianism,"
411-26 passim.
7 Miller,Doubles,especially221; HenriF. Ellenberger,TheDiscoveryofthe
Unconscious:TheHistoryand EvolutionofDynamicPsychiatry
(New York:
Basic Books, 1970),278ff.;T. J.JacksonLears,No Place ofGrace:Antimodernismand theTransformation
Culture,1880-1920(New York:
ofAmerican
Pantheon,1981), chap. 1; ThomasHolt,"The PoliticalUses ofAlienation:
W.E. B. Du Bois on Politics,Race, and Culture,1903-1940,"American
42 (1990): 301-23; Du Bois, Souls, e.g., 38, 43.
Quarterly
8 Miller,Doubles,241ff.;Ellenberger,
Discovery
oftheUnconscious,
166.
9 Samuel L. Mitchell,"A Double Consciousness,or a Dualityof Person in
MedicalRepository
n.s. 3 (1817): 185-86; WilliamS.
the same Individual,"
Plumer,"MaryReynolds:A Case of Double Consciousness,"Harper's20
(May 1860): 807-12.
Philosophy
(Boston: Phillips,
10 FrancisWayland,TheElementsofIntellectual
passim.
Sampson,1855), 115,423-26; Plumer,"MaryReynolds,"
2 vols. (1890; rpt.,New York:
11 WilliamJames,ThePrinciplesofPsychology,
Dover, 1950), 1:393. Foran exampleoftheFrenchwork,see AlfredBinet,
"Proofof Double Consciousnessin HystericalIndividuals,"Open Court
DiscoveryoftheUncon3 (1889): 1739-41. On Bourne,see Ellenberger,
scious,134-35, 177n.
12 Plumer,"MaryReynolds,"
808; J.Elliotson,"DualConsciousness,"Cornhill
35 (1877): 90-91.
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Du Bois's Idea ofDouble Consciousness 309
13 On Du Bois's ideas aboutrace as a concept,see Anthony
Appiah,"The UncompletedArgument:
Du Bois andtheIllusionofRace," in"Race,"Writing,
and Difference,
ed. HenryLouis GatesJr.(Chicago:Univ.ofChicagoPress,
1986), 27-29.
14 Du Bois, "Strivings,"195; James,Principles,1:399; Wayland,Elements,
115-16.
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