SOURCE: "A Fisher of Black Life: Short Stories by Rudolph Fisher," in The Harlem Renaissance Re-examined, AMS Press, 1987, pp. 253-62.

In the following essay, Perry observes that Fisher was a satirist and social historian whose stories were traditional in style—in the mode of Poe, Gogol and James—yet were still able to capture the spirit of Harlem.

A Mixed Review of the City of Refuge:

Although this work is little read today, Dr. Rudolph Fisher once held a prominent place among that pantheon of writers and artists whose reputations blazed during the Harlem Renaissance. And justifiably so, since his writing effortlessly captures the spirit and vitality of the Harlem he experienced in the 1920's and early 30's. Taken individually, the short stories collected in The City of Refuge show Fisher's remarkable command of both standard English and various dialects. One feels, smells and tastes his Harlem; its...