The Literary Career of Charles W. Chesnutt - Paperbackby William L. Andrews (Author) The career of any black writer in nineteenth century American was fraught with difficulties, and William Andrews undertakes to explain how and why Charles Waddell Chesnutt (1858 1932) became the first Negro novelist of importance: "Steering a difficult course between becoming co opted by his white literary supporters and becoming alienated from then and their access to the publishing medium, Chesnutt became the first