[Gutenberg 15265] • The Quest of the Silver Fleece: A Novel

Originally published in 1911, *The Quest of the Silver Fleece* was the first novel to come from world-famous sociologist and civil-rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois. A controversial title of its time, the novel chronicles the complex interactions between Northern financing and Southern politics as it follows the story of free-spirited Zora, child of a Southern swamp, and her romance with Yankee-educated Bles, who will eventually face the opportunity to claim political power through corrupt means. In the middle of it all is the silver fleece, a crop of cotton rich with meaning and symbolism.

In the tradition of other incendiary novels that explore market forces at the turn of the century, such as Frank Norris’s *The Pit* and Upton Sinclair’s *The Jungle* , *The Quest of the Silver Fleece* was seen as an “economic study” by Du Bois, yet it was also a romantic and otherwordly saga, loosely based on the Greek myth from which it takes its name. Using literary conventions to expose and oppose America’s views on race, Du Bois presents a sprawling and provocative work that continues to engage readers and inspire debate among literary scholars today.