Gentleman Jigger: A Novel of the Harlem Renaissance

by Richard Bruce Nugent

An important addition to the literature of the period, Gentleman Jigger is the story of two brothers. Aeon, who passes for white and becomes a famous poet, faces the conundrums of love across the color line. Stuartt, who is openly homosexual-as was the author-joins the younger intellectuals of Harlem in defying authority figures, both black and white, at the notorious “Niggeratti Manor.” After the group disperses, Stuartt moves to Greenwich Village and becomes sexually involved with a young hoodlum. Charming and audacious, Stuartt eventually seduces one of the gangster’s top bosses, Orini, before his friendships with Wayne, a young heiress, and Bebe, Orini’s “moll,” set them all spinning in a whirlwind of jazz-age glamour and celebrity...that ends in an ironic dénouement.

Genres: LGBT, Historical, Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 22, 2008

Reviews

[Troy]

I wanted to like this more than I did. The writing is snap, the observances matter of fact, the complex politics of integration and the Harlem ("Negro") Renaissance interesting...but it doesn't maintain that steam it starts with.

[Kathy]

I loved the beginning and the way it started off, but the rest of it went downhill for me.

[Slagle Rock]

This book, written almost 100 years ago but only recently published proved to be a fascinating read. It is based on the life of the author, Richard Bruce Nugent, who was a prime literary mover during the Harlem Renaissance, and fictionalized versions of other notable intellectuals and celebrities from the period.
The story spends much time describing the nightlife of Harlem and beyond, with many scenes set in parties, casinos and bars, much in the way books by Langston Hughes and Claude McCay have done but Nugent seems to take the bohemia a few steps farther than his cohorts.
The narrative tone on the issue of race relations was sort of what one might expect for the period, there was a lot about passing and characteristics of color and nationality, but in the area of homosexuality, the book seemed way ahead of its time (and, no doubt, that is why is wasn’t published until recently).
The book overall seemed sort of episodic as plot development goes. I don’t think every conversation at every party necessarily contributed to the overall whole of the story, but those episodes and affairs did help develop a picture of the scene. The protagonist, Stewartt, is honest with his friends, explores various hustles on the art scene in New York and spends a great deal of the novel in Chicago having liaisons with gangsters, heiresses and molls.
The book opens and closes with a look at the main character’s family but I didn’t find it was all that well blended with the rest of the story. A brother is featured as a side character for a while but is disappointingly written out of the story early on.
In conclusion, I would say some aspects of this book are very compelling reading but others go a bit afield and don’t quite contribute to a satisfying story arc. Still, it is well worth reading.

[David]

Written between 1928 and 1933, this forthright roman à clef of the Harlem Renaissance is a more daring counterpart to Wallace Thurman's 1932 satire Infants in the Spring, in which Nugent appears as the dilettantish bisexual painter Paul Arbian. His alter-ego here is the equally outré Stuartt—yes, with two t's—an outspoken firebrand whose decadent Wildean aesthetic flies in the face of the dominant socially motivated ethos of "the New Negro." A rebel's rebel, Stuartt is equally unapologetic about passing as white and identifying as queer. Lengthy polemic dialogues, no doubt lifted from real life, vividly capture the cultural ferment and strife of the time. In the loose, melodramatic second half, Stuartt moves downtown to Greenwich Village, hustling rough trade and sleeping his way up through the ranks of gangsters until he lands in Chicago, the dual plaything of a mafia don and a lady socialite named Wayne. All but forgotten, the book was finally assembled from drafts and published in 2008, thanks to the efforts of Thomas Wirth, who provides an insightful introduction and afterword. Decades ahead of its time, this taboo-defying work of unproblematized queer Black identity is less successful as a novel than as a front-row seat to a momentous era, spent in the vibrant company of a truly original iconoclast.

[Ulyera]

This book is a mixture of all the things I despise about literary fiction. It’s quite self-important, and grounds its intrigue in facetious debates without saying anything of substance. Stuartt always has the upper-hand, and exists at the center of everyone’s universe. Whenever something of importance occurs (Leo potentially assaulting a young girl in the building where the Niggeratti frequently convene), the plot falls before it can be meaningfully taken up. I was often disappointed, bored, and annoyed while reading, and feel that I have left the experience with nothing positive or negative to say.

I understand the context behind this novel - Nungent never being able to fully edit or publish this novel im his lifetime - but I still do not forgive its multitude of sins.

[Jasmine]

i love this book.

it was a bit absurd and fantastical in some parts but it made me smile, laugh, and critically engage with the story. that’s all i can ask for.

chapter fifteen was my favorite in the book and i absolutely adore the adventures and main themes in section two.

this book is so special to me and it was SO fun to read!

[Zamaniya]

deaded on page 84. I actually can't with this book/personal historiography/fevered memoir etc., etc.

[Jo Rouseau]

Read for class. Bored out of my mind for the first half of the book, in love with the second.

[Eric]

I enjoyed this book. I think that as a young artist the Harlem Renaissance has always been an inspiration. During the time I was reading this book, I lived in Harlem. It was amazing being able to almost walk the same steps that those artist had walked. I think that this book exposes some great themes: Sexuality during the period, "passing" and the vibrancy of artist and intellectuals of the period.

[Rich Hancuff]

I was torn between 3 and 4 stars on this one. The novel doesn't seem to be quite finished and it could have used another edit. However, the second half of the novel is amazing for its frank discussion of homosexual desire and the nature of desire in general; the first half is a great complement to Thurman's Infants of the Spring.