Reviewers of Fever also single out the title story, noting its uniqueness, its range, and its message. Susan Fromberg Schaeffer, writing for The New York Times, calls ‘‘Fever’’ ‘‘almost majestic in its evocation of the goodness and evil of the human heart.’’ She further notes the peculiar perspective used by Wideman in this collection, which she expresses as ‘‘not quite human but godlike, not limited by the conventions of ordinary storytelling.’’ She finds that ‘‘Fever’’ makes use of this style of storytelling successfully, culminating in ‘‘an almost unbearably anguished meditation on human nature in plague time, the power and sadness of the story are enormous, its vision triumphant.’’
Wideman’s career can be characterized by his search for new ways to explore themes and ideas and to express the African-American experience. ‘‘Fever’’ is a boldly experimental work, one that floats back and forth between time periods and narrators and thus defies easy labeling or analysis. Randall Kenan of The Nation forthrightly deals with Wideman’s slipping back and forth in time; he presents his own reasoning: ‘‘It is as if Wideman is again playing games with us, forcing us to see the past and the present as one; how we are affected by what has gone before, not only in our thinking but in our acting and in our soul-deep believing.’’ Despite the story’s elusive nature and Wideman’s claims to Rosen that the story ‘‘shouldn’t be tied to any historical period,’’ reviewers note his evocation of a specific period in American history. Other reviewers comment on the way Wideman collapses time to present a composite picture of a certain place and mindset. Cara Hood writing for the Voice Literary Supplement claims that present-day Philadelphia emerges as the protagonist of the story.
Reviewers do not overlook the significance of Wideman’s message in examining his style. Herbert Mitgang in the New York Times finds that even after reading the story, he is left with the knowledge of Wideman’s search for ‘‘some sort of universality’’ to the human condition. Some reviewers, however, do not care for the way in which Wideman attempts to get his message to readers. For instance, Clarence Major of the Washington Post believes ‘‘Fever’’ to be the most ambitious if not the most artistically successful story of the collection. Mitgang recognizes the importance of what Wideman is saying when he writes that Wideman’s ‘‘voice as a modern black writer with something to report comes through.’’ Despite this praise, Mitgang does not believe that the rest of the stories are successful, asserting in his review of the collection that they add nothing to Wideman’s reputation as a writer.
In Wideman’s extensive and accomplished body of work, ‘‘Fever’’ occupies only a small spot. Yet, if it accomplishes nothing more, it demonstrates Wideman’s careful exploration of relationships among people and the effects that these relationships have on society. Wideman’s interest in the issues he raises in ‘‘Fever’’—including racial relations, communication, personal freedom, and violence— is seen in the works that he has written later in his career. Philadelphia Fire picks up the final section of the story in its fictionalization of the 1985 MOVE bombing. The Cattle Killing explores the devastating effects of racial prejudice on the African Americans who remained behind in Philadelphia during the 1793 yellow fever epidemic in greater detail. The body of Wideman’s work strengthens Robert Bones’ assertion, made in 1978, that Wideman is ‘‘perhaps the most gifted black novelist of his generation.’’
Source: Short Stories for Students, ©2012 Gale Cengage. All Rights Reserved. Full copyright.
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