Summary

The novel tells the story of Porgy, a crippled street beggar living in the black tenements of Charleston, South Carolina, in the 1920s. We follow him as he woos Bess and for one shining moment becomes all that he has ever imagined himself capable of being before losing everything.

Highlights

Gripping and sympathetic, it offers a glimpse into Charleston’s past. Adapted in George Gershwin's masterpiece Porgy and Bess. With his white eyes, wonderful, poetic qualities in the inhabitants of Catfish Row that makes them come alive.

—Langston Hughes

Critical Acclaim

The first major southern novel to portray blacks without condescension —James M. Hutchisson