The Rivers of Eros by Cyrus Colter

First published: 1972

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Domestic realism; psychological realism

Time of work: 1971

Locale: The South Side of Chicago

Principal Characters:

• Clotilda Pilgrim, a widow who supports herself and her grandchildren by sewing and taking in boarders
• Adeline (Addie) Parker, Clotilda’s sixteen-year-old granddaughter
• Lester Parker, Clotilda’s eleven-year-old grandson
• Ruby Parker, Clotilda’s daughter, the mother of Addie and Lester, who was murdered by her husband
• Zack Parker, the father of Addie and Lester, Ruby’s husband and murderer
• Sonny Greenlee, an employee at Zack’s repair shop who had attempted to seduce Ruby
• Ambrose Hammer, a retired postal worker who rooms at Clotilda’s and is writing a book, A History of the Negro Race
• Titus Neeley, a boarder at Clotilda’s who is also a postal employee and a friend of Hammer
• Letitia Dorsey, a boarder at Clotilda’s who works as a stenographer and is attracted to Hammer
• Dunreith Smith, an alcoholic drug user who is Addie’s lover
• James “Alexis” Potts, a black radical friend of Dunreith

The Novel

The Rivers of Eros, set on the South Side of Chicago in 1971, is the story of Clotilda Pilgrim and her efforts to protect her grandchildren and to help them achieve happy and successful lives. It is also the story of her inability to understand herself or to cope with the difficulties of her own life. Clotilda is a middle-class widow who sews and takes in boarders to earn a living for herself and her grandchildren, Adeline (Addie) and Lester. Clotilda lives with an ever-present sense of guilt and responsibility for the tragedy that took her daughter’s life and that may destroy the lives of her grandchildren.

As a young woman, Clotilda seduced her sister Pearl’s husband, Chester, and had a daughter by him. Years later, this daughter, Ruby, was violently murdered by her husband, Zack Parker. Zack had mistakenly believed that Ruby was having an affair with Sonny Greenlee, a mechanic who worked in his garage. Addie, a young child at the time, witnessed the murder. She is plagued by nightmares and refuses to talk about her mother.

Clotilda is determined to shield her grandchildren from violence and despair. She has problems dealing with Addie, however, because she is afraid to discipline her granddaughter. Addie is headstrong, defiant, and searching for excitement in her life. She finds it with Dunreith Smith, the married brother of her friend Thelma. Dunreith, who has grown up on the streets, is an alcoholic, a drug user, and a womanizer who is often in trouble with the police. Addie is fascinated by him and is soon involved in a sexual relationship with him.

When Clotilda discovers that Addie is sexually active and involved with this disreputable and dangerous man, she is devastated. Ridden with guilt, she slowly loses contact with reality. She believes that Addie is doomed to hell and cannot be saved. Dunreith eventually breaks off the affair, and the despondent Addie attempts to kill herself. At this point, Clotilda rejects her. Addie attempts to regain her grandmother’s love and approval, but it is too late. Clotilda has disappeared into an unhealthy mental state. One day, while alone with Addie, Clotilda murders her by clamping a plastic bag over her head and violently twisting it.

A subplot in the novel deals with Clotilda’s three boarders, Letitia, Hammer, and Neeley. Hammer is writing a book to be called A History of the Negro Race. Letitia, who is looking for a husband, begins typing his book. As they work on the book, a relationship develops between them. Neeley, a lost soul since his mother’s death, constantly heckles Hammer about his book, yet looks upon him as his only friend. The three boarders try unsuccessfully to help Clotilda.

At the end of the novel, Hammer, Letitia, and Lester are returning from the Elgin State Hospital, where they have visited Clotilda. Letitia, who is now Mrs. Ambrose Hammer, is driving the car, a used Chevrolet. Lester is extremely upset. His grandmother was thin and haggard looking in the hospital, and she did not know them. As a mental patient, she is kept alone.

Letitia assures Lester that everything will be all right if he learns to accept the situation. She tells him he is their son now and describes the room that he will have when they move to their new house. Neeley will also live with them. She suggests to Hammer that they not work on the book that evening. Hammer agrees but quickly once again withdraws into himself. Lester, pressing his face against the car window, keeps repeating that he will visit his grandmother even though she does not know him. It is raining.

The Characters

The Rivers of Eros is dominated by its characters’ struggles to direct their lives and attain their goals. They find, however, that they are unable to control the circumstances and overcome the obstacles that they encounter. The tragic outcome of Clotilda Pilgrim’s life is foreshadowed on the day of her infidelity with Chester. She has been reading a novel, The Rivers of Eros, in which a promiscuous woman racked by guilt eventually ends up in an insane asylum. At the beginning of the novel, Clotilda, although concerned about Addie’s problems and willfulness, appears to be relatively happy and in control of her life. She has a definite routine that she follows. She has just purchased a new sewing machine that will enable her to earn a better living. She has a good relationship with her roomers.

Soon, circumstances radically change Clotilda’s life. She discovers Addie’s affair with Dunreith. Clotilda has lived most of her life with a sense of guilt over her seduction of Chester and betrayal of her sister. Ironically, her daughter Ruby, the child born of her unfaithfulness, lost her life because her own husband mistakenly believed her to be unfaithful. Clotilda views her adultery as an immoral act, a sin. While she is not particularly religious, she has a sense of God as quick to anger and to punish transgressions. That the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children is a reality for her. She has lost control of Addie; she has failed in what was to her the most important goal of her life. Unable to find help, Clotilda withdraws into an increasingly morose, distorted private world. Addie becomes the living embodiment of her guilt, and Clotilda kills her in an effort to cleanse her own guilt.

Critical Context

Cyrus Colter began writing short stories as a hobby in 1960. In 1970, he collected several stories into a manuscript and entered a contest at the University of Iowa. He won; his collection of stories was published and received several awards. This success prompted the publisher to ask him for a novel. In response, Colter produced his first novel, The Rivers of Eros. His life as a writer changed. He wrote no more short stories but produced several more successful novels.

Bibliography

Bell, Bernard W. The Contemporary African American Novel: Its Folk Roots and Modern Literary Branches. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2004. Complete history of the African American novel and its practitioners. Places The Rivers of Eros in the context of such literary movements as critical realism, modernism, and postmodernism.

Bender, Robert M. “The Fiction of Cyrus Colter.” New Letters 48, no. 1 (Fall, 1981): 93-103. Discusses Colter as a writer reminiscent of Anton Chekhov.

Clarke, Graham. “Beyond Realism: Black Fiction and the Language of the Real Thing” Black American Literature Forum 16, no. 1 (Spring, 1982): 43-48. Discusses African American identity and racial conflict in The Riversof Eros, especially in terms of language.

Gibbon, Reginald. “Colter’s Novelistic Contradictions.” Callaloo 14, no. 4 (Fall, 1991): 898-905. Analysis of characters, discussing the use of open-endedness in the representation of life and conflict and the difficult choices faced in Colter’s novels.

O’Brien, John. “Forms of Determinism in the Fiction of Cyrus Colter.” Studies in Black Literature 4, no. 2 (1973): 24-28. Discusses Colter’s use of elements that create an atmosphere of determinism in his work.

Rao, E. Raja.Beyond Protest: A Critical Examination of Contemporary African American Fiction. New Delhi, India: Academic Foundation, 1993. Situates Colter in the “aesthetic tradition” of African American imagination, emphasizing the work’s literary character rather than seeing it as a vehicle of protest.

Shafer, Fred. Introduction to The Rivers of Eros, by Cyrus Colter. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990. Good biography of Colter as an individual and as a writer. Discussion of how Colter creates characters.