Montage of a dream : the art and life of Langston Hughes

Over a forty-six-year career, Langston Hughes experimented with black folk expressive culture, creating an enduring body of extraordinary imaginative and critical writing. Riding the crest of African American creative energy from the Harlem Renaissance to the onset of Black Power, he commanded an artistic prowess that survives in the legacy he bequeathed to a younger generation of writers, including award winners Alice Walker, Paule Marshall, and Amiri Baraka. Montage of a Dream extends and deepens previous scholarship, multiplying the ways in which Hughes’s diverse body of writing can be explored. The contributors, including such distinguished scholars as Steven Tracy, Trudier Harris, Juda Bennett, Lorenzo Thomas, and Christopher C. De Santis, carefully reexamine the significance of his work and life for their continuing relevance to American, African American, and diasporic literatures and cultures. Probing anew among Hughes’s fiction, biographies, poetry, drama, essays, and other writings, the contributors assert fresh perspectives on the often overlooked “Luani of the Jungles” and Black Magic and offer insightful rereadings of such familiar pieces as “Cora Unashamed,” “Slave on the Block,” and Not without Laughter . In addition to analyzing specific works, the contributors astutely consider subjects either lightly explored by or unavailable to earlier scholars, including dance, queer studies, black masculinity, and children’s literature. Some investigate Hughes’s use of religious themes and his passion for the blues as the fabric of black art and life; others ponder more vexing questions such as Hughes’s sexuality and his relationship with his mother, as revealed in the letters she sent him in the last decade of her life. Montage of a Dream richly captures the power of one man’s art to imagine an America holding fast to its ideals while forging unity out of its cultural diversity. By showing that Langston Hughes continues to speak to the fundamentals of human nature, this comprehensive reconsideration invites a renewed appreciation of Hughes’s work—and encourages new readers to discover his enduring relevance as they seek to understand the world in which we all live. Over a forty-six-year career, Langston Hughes experimented with black folk expressive culture, creating an enduring body of extraordinary imaginative and critical writing. Riding the crest of African American creative energy from the Harlem Renaissance to the onset of Black Power, he commanded an artistic prowess that survives in the legacy he bequeathed to a younger generation of writers, including award winners Alice Walker, Paule Marshall, and Amiri Baraka. __Montage of a Dream__ extends and deepens previous scholarship, multiplying the ways in which Hughes’s diverse body of writing can be explored. The contributors, including such distinguished scholars as Steven Tracy, Trudier Harris, Juda Bennett, Lorenzo Thomas, and Christopher C. De Santis, carefully reexamine the significance of his work and life for their continuing relevance to American, African American, and diasporic literatures and cultures. Probing anew among Hughes’s fiction, biographies, poetry, drama, essays, and other writings, the contributors assert fresh perspectives on the often overlooked “Luani of the Jungles” and __Black Magic__ and offer insightful rereadings of such familiar pieces as “Cora Unashamed,” “Slave on the Block,” and __Not without Laughter__. In addition to analyzing specific works, the contributors astutely consider subjects either lightly explored by or unavailable to earlier scholars, including dance, queer studies, black masculinity, and children’s literature. Some investigate Hughes’s use of religious themes and his passion for the blues as the fabric of black art and life; others ponder more vexing questions such as Hughes’s sexuality and his relationship with his mother, as revealed in the letters she sent him in the last decade of her life. __Montage of a Dream__ richly captures the power of one man’s art to imagine an America holding fast to its ideals while forging unity out of its cultural diversity. By showing that Langston Hughes continues to speak to the fundamentals of human nature, this comprehensive reconsideration invites a renewed appreciation of Hughes’s work—and encourages new readers to discover his enduring relevance as they seek to understand the world in which we all live. Content: Poeme por Langston / Cheikh Amadou Dieng -- Poem for Langston / translated by Mame Selbee Diouf -- Langston Hughes revisited and revised: an introduction / John Edgar Tidwell and Cheryl R. Ragar -- The sacred and the secular -- Langston Hughes and Aunt Hager's children's blues performance: "Six-Bits Blues " / Steven C. Tracy -- Almost, but not quite, bluesmen in Langston Hughes's poetry / Trudier Harris -- Natural and unnatural circumstances in Not Without Laughter / Elizabeth Schultz -- The public and the private -- The sounds of silence: Langston Hughes as a "down-low" brother? / John Edgar Tidwell -- Langston Hughes on the open road: compulsory hetereosexuality and the question of presence / Juda Bennett -- Gender performance and sexual subjectivity in Not Without Laughter: Sandy's emergent masculinity / Kimberly J. Banks -- Mother to son: the letters from Carrie Hughes Clark to Langston Hughes, 1928-1938 / Regennia N. Williams and Carmaletta M. Williams -- Revolutions literary and political -- "Luani of the Jungles" : reimagining the Africa of Heart of Darkness / Jeffrey A. Schwarz -- Langston Hughes's red poetics and the practice of "disalienation" / Robert Young -- The paradox of modernism in The Ways of White Folks / Sandra Y. Govan -- Other words and other worlds -- The empowerment of displacement / Isabel Soto -- "It is the Same Everywhere for Me" : Langston Hughes and the African diaspora's everyman / Lorenzo Thomas -- Montage of a dream destroyed: Langston Hughes in Spain / Michael Thurston -- The Russian connection: interracialism as queer alliance in The Ways of White Folks / Kate A. Baldwin -- Langston Hughes and the boundaries of art -- Langston Hughes and the children's literary tradition / Giselle Liza Anatol -- Circles of liberation and constriction: dance in Not Without Laughter / Joan Stone -- The essayistic vision of Langston Hughes / Christopher C. DeSantis -- Langston Hughes and the movies: the case of Way Down South / Thomas Cripps. Montage of a Dream The Art and Life of Langston Hughes 4 Contents 6 Foreword 10 Acknowledgments 14 Abbreviations 16 Poème pour Langston 18 Poem for Langston 19 Langston Hughes Revisited and Revised: An Introduction 22 I The Sacred and the Secular 38 Langston Hughes and Aunt Hager’s Children’s Blues Performance 40 Almost—But Not Quite—Bluesmen in Langston Hughes’s Poetry 53 Natural and Unnatural Circumstances in Not without Laughter 60 II The Public and the Private 74 The Sounds of Silence: Langston Hughes as a “Down Low” Brother? 76 Langston Hughes on the Open Road: Compulsory Heterosexuality and the Question of Presence 89 Gender Performance and Sexual Subjectivity in Not without Laughter: Sandy’s Emergent Masculinity 107 Mother to Son: The Letters from Carrie Hughes Clark to Langston Hughes, 1928–1938 127 III Revolutions Literary and Political 146 “Luani of the Jungles”: Reimagining the Africa of Heart of Darkness 148 Langston Hughes’s Red Poetics and the Practice of “Disalienation” 156 The Paradox of Modernism in The Ways of White Folks 168 IV Other Words and Other Worlds 188 The Empowerment of Displacement 190 “It Is the Same Everywhere for Me”: Langston Hughes and the African Diaspora’s Everyman 202 Montage of a Dream Destroyed: Langston Hughes in Spain 216 The Russian Connection: Interracialism as Queer Alliance in The Ways of White Folks 230 V Langston Hughes and the Boundaries of Art 256 Langston Hughes and the Children’s Literary Tradition 258 Circles of Liberation and Constriction: Dance in Not without Laughter 280 The Essayistic Vision of Langston Hughes 305 Langston Hughes and the Movies: The Case of Way Down South 326 Bibliography 340 Notes on the Contributors 356 Index 362 "Contributors reexamine the continuing relevance of Langston Hughes's work and life to American, African American, and diasporic literatures and cultures. Includes fresh perspectives on the often overlooked "Luani of the Jungles," Black Magic, and works for children, as well as Hughes's more familiar fiction, poetry, essays, dramas, and other writings"--Provided by publisher. "Contributors reexamine the continuing relevance of Langston Hughes's work and life to American, African American, and diasporic literatures and cultures. Includes fresh perspectives on the often overlooked "Luani of the Jungles," Black Magic, and works for children, as well as Hughes's more familiar fiction, poetry, essays, dramas, and other writings"--Résumé de l'éditeur