Assorted Chocolates

by Octavus Roy Cohen

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

342 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1922

About the author

Octavus Roy Cohen was an American author, born in South Carolina where he received his secondary education at the Porter Military Academy, now the exclusive Porter-Gaud School. He went on to receive a college education at the Clemson University. Between 1910 and 1912 he worked in the editorial departments of the Birmingham Ledger, the Charleston News and Courier, the Bayonne Times, and the Newark Morning Star. He became popular as a result of his stories printed in The Saturday Evening Post which concerned themselves with the adventures of the Southern Negro. If his people seemed to possess the usual mythical Negro qualities of drollery and miscomprehensions, his tales at any rate were spirited. In 1913, he was admitted to the South Carolina bar and practiced law in Charleston for two years. Between 1917 and his death he published 56 books, works that included humorous and detective novels, plays, and collections of short stories. He also composed successful Broadway plays and radio, film, and television scripts.

Reviews

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only reason I had access to this book was because a copy was given to my father as a birthday present back in the 1920s not too long after it had been published. A collection of Cohen's detective stories -"Jim Hanvey, Detective" - was recently reprinted and I read it last month and was so inspired to dig this one out and read it. Anyway, this is a humorous collection of short stories set in the African-American community of Birmingham, Alabama back in the day when strict racial segregation was mostly taken for granted. The characters are mostly sympathetically written (except when one of them is a villain) and most of them involve a rivalry for which of two suitors will win the pretty girl. The spelling of the spoken dialogue reflects the dialect spoken by the locals and one may need to sound it out to get the meaning. Overall, this book reflects the ethos of the 1920s - in terms of culture, transportation, morality etc.