Fever by John Edgar Wideman
"Fever" by John Edgar Wideman is a poignant short story that delves into the 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia, a historical event that claimed over four thousand lives, significantly impacting the city’s population. The narrative unfolds through a diverse array of voices, including both historical and fictional characters, each contributing unique perspectives to the unfolding tragedy. Central to the story is Richard Allen, a former slave who becomes a leader in the African American community and is depicted aiding those afflicted by the disease, despite the racial prejudices of his time.
The tale illustrates the societal dynamics at play during the epidemic, with scapegoating of the black population occurring amidst widespread suffering. Allen's experiences highlight the indiscriminate nature of the disease, which affects individuals across different social strata. The episodic structure invites readers to engage closely with the narrative, as it shifts between perspectives, including those of a clinician, a Jewish immigrant, and voices from the 1980s, providing a rich tapestry that emphasizes both historical context and contemporary reflections. Ultimately, "Fever" serves as both a historical account and a meditation on race, disease, and humanity in times of crisis.
Fever by John Edgar Wideman
First published: 1989
Type of plot: Historical, social realism
Time of work: August through November, 1793
Locale: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Principal Characters:
Richard Allen , an African American ministerA distant omniscient narrator A series of lesser narrators
The Story
This title story in John Edgar Wideman's second collection of short stories is a horrifying fictional account of a historical event, the 1793 yellow fever epidemic that devastated the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, killing more than four thousand people, an estimated one-tenth of the city's population. The story is told in an episodic montage of narrative voices that demand the reader's close attention, each voice revealing a distinct point of view. Knowledge of the historical event would enhance the reader's appreciation of the story but is not essential to its understanding.
The primary narrative position is that of an actual historical figure, Richard Allen, a former slave who bought his own freedom and that of his wife and educated himself, rising to leadership in the black community as founder of the first African American church. Allen speaks at times in first-person stream of consciousness and also, in one instance, in an actual letter from his memoirs. Central to the story is a narrative voice commenting on the events out of an omniscient view of world history. Among other voices are those of a slave in the hold of a ship, a clinician describing the medical phenomena of the disease, a physician of the time (perhaps Benjamin Rush himself), a Jewish immigrant dying from the fever, and three voices speaking from the 1980's.
The complex interplay of these voices builds a dense layer of episodes that portray the city and its citizens in the throes of disaster. At the time, it was not known that yellow fever is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. After yellow fever breaks out, the citizens of Philadelphia blame the disease on those most despised in the community: slaves transported to the Americas by their masters after the revolution in Santo Domingo and ultimately the entire black population of the city, who they believe are immune to the disease. Free African Americans do indeed die from the fever, but many risk their lives by responding to the demands of city officials that they assist the physicians by treating the afflicted, conveying the dead to the cemetery, and burying the bodies of yellow fever victims.
Richard Allen is assigned to assist Dr. Benjamin Rush, a noted physician of the time, criticized for his practice of bleeding victims of the disease, further weakening them and causing death. Allen, whose black parishioners have been expelled from the white church, forms an African American congregation. He feels both anger and love toward some of his brothers, sorrowful that, having escaped from slavery, they have further enslaved themselves by leading dissolute lives instead of following Christian beliefs. Others, like Allen himself, risk their lives to help the living and bury the dead. Allen sees at firsthand that disease makes no racial distinction; it kills the poorest black people in their hovels as well as the wealthy in their luxurious homes. He could extract payment for his services from the white people who refuse to acknowledge his humanity, but he will not do this. Despite his physical and emotional exhaustion, he is driven by his Christian faith, by compassion for suffering, and at times by desperate force of habit.
Other voices mock Allen, speak for other black Philadelphians, state the prejudices of the people of the time, or give historical details. Three brief narratives close the story but offer no resolution. One voice is that of a young black man speaking in the cynical street language of the late twentieth century. He is a poorly paid nursing home attendant, indifferent to the sufferings of his elderly patients, both black and white. Another speaker is the African American mayor of Philadelphia in 1985, justifying the bombing of the neighborhood of the anarchic African American MOVE group that kills eleven people, five of them children. The final voice describes the autopsy of one of the African Americans healers who died from the fever in 1793, the clinical details contrasted with the surreal vision of a child's hand reaching for the victim's heart.
Sources for Further Study
Esquire. CXII, August, 1989, p.122.
Kirkus Reviews. LVI I, September 1, 1989, p.1280.
Library Journal. CXIV, November 1, .1989, p.113.
The New York Times. December 5, 1989, p. B2(N).
The New York Times Book Review. XCIV, December 10, 1989, p.1.
Tribune Books. October 29, 1989, p.7.
The Washington Post Book World. XIX, November 5, 1989, p.7.