''Bailey's Café'' is a 1992

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

by award-winning American author

Gloria Naylor Gloria Naylor (January 25, 1950 – September 28, 2016) was an American novelist, known for novels including '' The Women of Brewster Place'' (1982)'', Linden Hills'' (1985) and '' Mama Day'' (1988). Early life and education Naylor was born in ...

. The novel consists of a loosely intertwined group of stories, all told in first person, about the owners and patrons of ''Bailey's Cafe'', an apparently supernatural establishment, set nominally in New York City, whose entrance can be found from different places and times.

Plot summary and settings

The unnamed owner of Bailey's Cafe (he is called "Bailey" as a nickname) acquires the cafe after his return from

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and claims that it is magical and it saved him. Though the cafe is nominally set in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

as per Naylor's earlier novel ''

Mama Day ''Mama Day'' is the third novel by Gloria Naylor. The story focuses upon the tragic love affair of "star-crossed" lovers Ophelia "Cocoa" Day and George Andrews. The setting of the novel is split between New York City, where George was born and r ...

'', patrons wander into it from different times and places. The cafe also has a back door that apparently opens onto infinity (or death). The stories he tells include his own and his wife, Nadine's, as well as those of several of the patrons of the cafe who live in a nearby

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Ty ...

including Eve (who owns the brownstone down the street that harbors mostly fugitive women and serves as a bordello), Ester (the victim of sexual and emotional abuse), "Miss Maple" (a male

cross-dresser Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...

), Jessie Bell (a bisexual drug-addict), Mary (a self-mutilated beauty), and Mariam (a mentally challenged, pregnant, virgin, teenager). Each person's back story is told by the owner as they come into the cafe. Bailey frames the first-person narrative of each character but one: Nadine opens and closes the story of Mariam (Mary).

Characters

*"Bailey" – the principal narrator. A World War II

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

and nominal owner of the cafe, Bailey (which is not his real name) is the cook. *Nadine – the owner's wife and cashier in the cafe. Nadine frames the story of Mariam. *Gabe – a Russian Jew and owner of the

pawn shop A pawnbroker is an individual that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. A pawnbrokering business is called a pawnshop, and while many items can be pawned, pawnshops typically accept jewelry, ...

that adjoins the cafe. *Sadie – a homeless

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

and

alcoholic Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Hea ...

, who is also, according to Bailey, "a lady". Sadie was forced into prostitution at the age of 13, then married a poor taciturn man 30 years her senior. After his death she returns to prostitution, is arrested, loses her house, and is eventually evicted from a

women's shelter A women's shelter, also known as a women's refuge and battered women's shelter, is a place of temporary protection and support for women escaping domestic violence and intimate partner violence of all forms. The term is also frequently used to ...

because she will not take public assistance funds. She wanders into Bailey's Cafe from the South Side of Chicago. When the verbose Iceman asks the mostly silent Sadie to marry him, she refuses, believing she will only bring him pain. *Iceman – works around Bailey's Cafe delivering ice. He proposes marriage to Sadie, but is rejected. *Eve – formerly

homeless Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

, Eve owns the brownstone down the street that harbors mostly fugitive women, and also serves as a

brothel A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in Human sexual activity, sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establis ...

, where the principal characters (sans the narrator and his wife) live. *Ester – the victim of

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using physical force, or by taking advantage of another. It often consists of a persistent pattern of sexual assaults. The offender is re ...

and

emotional abuse Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is no scientific consensus on a definit ...

. *Mary ("Peaches") – a self-mutilated beauty. *Jessie Bell – a

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

drug-addict and "fallen woman". *"Mariam" (Mary) – a 14-year-old, mentally challenged,

pregnant Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring gestation, gestates inside a woman's uterus. A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Conception (biology), Conception usually occurs ...

virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

Ethiopian Jew The history of the Jews in Ethiopia dates back millennia. The largest Jewish group in Ethiopia is the Beta Israel. Offshoots of the Beta Israel include the Beta Abraham and the Falash Mura, Ethiopian Jews who were converted to Christianity, some ...

, Mariam is also the victim of

genital mutilation Genital modifications are forms of body modifications applied to the human sex organs, human sexual organs, including invasive modifications performed through genital cutting or surgery. The term genital enhancement seem to be generally used for ...

(

clitorectomy Clitoridectomy or clitorectomy is the surgical removal, reduction, or partial removal of the clitoris. It is rarely used as a therapeutic medical procedure, such as when cancer has developed in or spread to the clitoris. Commonly, non-medical remo ...

). When she wanders into Gabe's pawn shop he takes her directly to Bailey's, even though the two men do not get along. Mariam lives at Eve's. *"Miss Maple" (Stanley Beckwourth

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite#United S ...

Carver: no surname is given) – a male

and former

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

who served time in prison for refusing to fight, Miss Maple has a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

specializing in marketing analysis but works as housekeeper and

bouncer A bouncer (also known as a door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at licensed or sanctioned venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, strip clubs and casinos. A bouncer's duties are to provide security, to check legal ag ...

for Eve. Born into a rowdy, rich, and powerful

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

family, Miss Maple came to Bailey's after many failed attempts to find employment in his field during which he began wearing women's clothes, supposedly due to the heat. Note: none of the characters have

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

s. All characters excepting Gabe (who is Jewish) and Mariam (who is an African) are presented as African American.

Themes

In an interview with ''The Seattle Times'', Naylor explained that "the underlying theme f ''Bailey's Cafe''is how people define femaleness and female sexuality, how women have been cast in sexual roles since Eve." Thus, the guests at Eve's boarding house do not fit the "easy sexual labels" used to control women's bodies. Another theme within ''Bailey's Cafe'' is the combination of collective and individuals traumas throughout

. Bailey's references of various key battle locations such as Guam, Pearl Harbor, Japan, and more allude to the fact that the violence was a collective experience from multiple characters and the general American population during wartime. ''Bailey's Cafe ''is the first of Naylor's novels to spotlight male characters. "Bailey", the owner of the café, frames the patrons’ stories with his running commentary as well as narrates the story of his courtship of Nadine, his wife. In addition, Miss Maples, a cross-dressing male housekeeper and bouncer, tells the story of why he came to wearing dresses. This shift in Naylor’s exclusive interest in the stories of women has been interpreted as her desire “to portray a different kind of male identity as well as . . . to cultivate a different relationship with her male characters."

Critical reception

''Bailey's Cafe'', which is sometimes referred to as a collection of interrelated short stories, has been well received by critics.

Adaptation

worked with director

Novella Nelson Novella Christine Nelson (December 17, 1939 – August 31, 2017) was an American actress and singer. She established her career as a singer, both on the off-Broadway and Broadway stage and in cabaret-style locales. Career Starting in 1961, Nels ...

to adapt ''Bailey's Cafe'' for the stage. ''Bailey's Cafe'' the play was produced by the Hartford Stage in March and April 1994.*Nelson, Novella,

Nikki Giovanni Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. (June 7, 1943 – December 9, 2024) was an American poet, writer, commentator, activist and educator. One of the world's best-known African-American poets, her work includes poetry anthologies, poetry recor ...

and Virginia C. Fowler
"''Bailey's Café'': From Novel to Play: Christiansburg, Virginia, 3 August, 1997."
''Callaloo'' 23. 4 (Autumn 2000): 1475–1496.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

Further references

*Buehler, Dorothea
"Below the Surface: Female Sexuality in Gloria Naylor's ''Bailey's Café''.
''Amerikastudien / American Studies'' 56.3 (2011): 425–448. *Brown, Amy Benson. "Writing Home: The Bible and Gloria Naylor's ''Bailey's Cafe''." ''Homemaking: Women Writers and the Politics and Poetics of Home''. Ed. Catherine Wiley and Fiona Barnes. New York: Garland, 1996. 23–42. *Chavanelle, Sylvie
"Gloria Naylor's ''Bailey's Cafe'': The Blues and Beyond."
''American Studies International'' 36.2 (1998): 58–73. *diPace, Angela. "Gloria Naylor's ''Bailey's Cafe'': A Panic Reading of Bailey's Narrative." ''The Critical Response to Gloria Naylor.'' Ed. Sharon Felton and Michelle C. Loris. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1997.194-99. *Montgomery, Maxine L
"Authority, Multivocality, and the New World Order in Gloria Naylor's ''Bailey's Cafe''."
''African American Review'' 29.1 (1995): 27–33. Reprinted in ''The Critical Response to Gloria Naylor.'' Ed. Sharon Felton and Michelle C. Loris. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1997. 187-94. *Nash, William R. "The Dream Defined: ''Bailey's Cafe'' and the Reconstruction of American Cultural Identities." ''The Critical Response to Gloria Naylor.'' Ed. Sharon Felton and Michelle C. Loris. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1997. 211–225. *Page, Philip. "Living with the Abyss in Gloria Naylor's ''Bailey's Cafe''." ''CLA Journal'' 40.1 (September 1996): 21–45. Reprinted in ''The Critical Response to Gloria Naylor.'' Ed. Sharon Felton and Michelle C. Loris. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1997. 225-39. *Rummell, Kathryn. "From Stanley to Miss Maple: A Definition of Manhood in Gloria Naylor's ''Bailey's Cafe''." ''Diversity: A Journal of Multicultural Issues'' 2 (1994): 90–96. *Schneider, Karen. "Gloria Naylor's Poetics of Emancipation: (E)merging (Im)possibilities in ''Bailey's Cafe''." Kelley, Margot Anne, ed. ''Gloria Naylor's Early Novels''. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1999. 1–20. *Thompson, Dorothy Perry. "Africana Womanist Revision in Gloria Naylor's ''Mama Day'' and ''Bailey's Cafe''." Kelley, Margot Anne, ed. ''Gloria Naylor's Early Novels''. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1999. 1–20. 89–111. *Whitt, Margaret
"Bailey's Café as Sports Bar, or, Why Baseball Needs a Way Station."
''Callaloo'' 23.4 (Autumn 2000):1464–1474. *Wood, Rebecca
"'Two Warring Ideals in One Dark Body': Universalism and Nationalism in Gloria Naylor's ''Bailey's Cafe''."
'African American Review'' 30.3 (Fall 1996): 381–95. Reprinted in ''The Critical Response to Gloria Naylor.'' Ed. Sharon Felton and Michelle C. Loris. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1997. 240-52.

External links

Postmodern novels African-American novels 1993 American novels Novels by Gloria Naylor American novels adapted into plays