Product Description
Langston Hughes is widely remembered as a celebrated star of the Harlem Renaissance -- a writer whose bluesy, lyrical poems and novels still have broad appeal. What's less well known about Hughes is that for much of his life he maintained a friendship with Carl Van Vechten, a flamboyant white critic, writer, and photographer whose ardent support of black artists was peerless.
Despite their differences — Van Vechten was forty-four to Hughes twenty-two when they met–Hughes’ and Van Vechten’s shared interest in black culture lead to a deeply-felt, if unconventional friendship that would span some forty years.Between them they knew everyone — from Zora Neale Hurston to Richard Wright, and their letters, lovingly and expertly collected here for the first time, are filled with gossip about the antics of the great and the forgotten, as well as with talk that ranged from race relations to blues lyrics to the nightspots of Harlem, which they both loved to prowl.It’s a correspondence that, as Emily Bernard notes in her introduction, provides “an unusual record of entertainment, politics, and culture as seen through the eyes of two fascinating and irreverent men.Amazon.com Review
When their correspondence began in 1925, Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) was the nation's leading Caucasian enthusiast for African American culture, and Langston Hughes (1902-67) was a struggling poet who lived with his mother in Washington, D.C., and plaintively closed one letter, "Remember me to Harlem." Over the four-decade-long friendship that's captured engagingly in these warm, funny letters, Hughes would become more famous, and Van Vechten less so, but their mutual affection and respect only would deepen. Editor Emily Bernard, a professor at Smith College, sensibly decided to include only a fraction of the letters that the pair exchanged, but to print those in their entirety, so that readers might get a vivid sense of each man's personality. Van Vechten is lighthearted, flirtatious, gossipy, effusive in his appreciation for Hughes' writing, and frank when he finds it not to his taste. Despite his unflinching commitment to civil rights, he's considerably less political than Hughes, whose equally witty correspondence has an underlying seriousness that's commensurate with a personal history that's far more turbulent and painful than that of his affluent friend. They share a dislike for "uplift-the-race" sanctimoniousness and a zest for African American folk culture; their letters are rife with references to the music of Bessie Smith and other great blues singers, as well as to the many Harlem Renaissance artists who were their personal acquaintances. The correspondence also provides a sustained chronicle of the working writer's life: they swap news of assignments and story ideas; Van Vechten generously makes his book-publishing and magazine contacts available to Hughes; and the poet loyally defends his friend's controversial novel, Nigger Heaven, against its numerous detractors. Helpfully, everyone is identified in Bernard's copious footnotes, which make this a handy reference work, as well as a delightful record of an extraordinary relationship between two uniquely gifted figures in American letters. --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Harlem Renaissance Icons!
Emily Bernard's REMEMBER ME TO HARLEM has to main goals.One, Bernard attempts with success to show the cordial communication between two leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance inner circle, Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten.Two, Bernard hopes to reveal a friendship uncommon for the day and time it flourished, the friendship between a black man and a white man during a major period of segregation and inequality between the black and white Americans.Of course, all this is done through the letters of Hughes and Van Vechten.

Bernard does an excellent job at showing the relationship between these two icons of the Harlem Renaissance.Initially, their friendship starts off as sort of a patron, Vechten, helping to support a struggling artist, Hughes.As revealed in these compiled letters, this working relationship evolves into a friendship where Hughes often defends Vechten agianst distractors who view him as an exploiter and currupter of certain members of the Reaissance literatti (e.g. Hughes himself).Through Hughes, Vechten is shown morphing from an attitude of ignorance and paternal racist assumptions about the primitivism of blacks to one of"some" understanding but definite admiration for the black community. The two men were friends, but it must be stressed they were not best friends.Hughes best friend/almost brother was Arna Bontemps.I stress this difference because the tone of the letters differ when Hughes is writing to Vechten and Bontemps.Therefore, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND the purchasing ofthe letters between Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps edited by Charles H. Nichols were Hughes is much less reserved than he is in his letters to Van Vechten on certain matters intimate to two men dealing with trials, tribulations, and triumphs of being black during the early and mid 20th century.

A characteristic of the letters is the sign off.Vechten had a habit of grandiose and flowery sign offs in his letters to Hughes.He chastised Hughes for his cordial but distant ending of his letters with "Sincerely."In letters to Van Vechten only, Hughes eventually adopted the grandiose sign off in his letters but with a difference.Hughes was a socially consicious man and early civil rights activist and this is reflected in some of the ways he ended his letters to Vechten where the two men initially engaged in gossip about friends like Bessie Smith, DuBois, Ethel Waters, Countee Cullen, Richard Bruce Nugent, and so on and the goings on in their lives to the mundane aspects of business.Sadly, after Vechten writes to Hughes that he compiling Renaissance works for the beginning of the James Weldon Johnson Collection at Yale, the letters between the two men, Hughes especially conscious of posterity, become almost tedious.

The wealth of the Bernard's compilation of the letters is in the notes following each letter where she provides bits of information about a person mentioned in the letter or current
event of that day.This is were her book shines its brightest.The notes mentions one of Van Vechten's lovers, a white man.In mentioning Mangus Hirschfeld, Bernard fails to indicate Hirschfeld was gay and leading proponent of gay rights that was widely known in the 20's.Pay special attention to the footnote from the letter dated 12/20/40 concerning the Amsterdam News pick of eligible bachelors, one or two men besides Hughes is gay
and paper makes a coy remark about Hughes "thin cloud of mystery," a reference to the "open secret" of his being gay.

Also, Bernard and reviews of the book have noted that you will not find any overt references to Hughes being gay unless you are willing to read between the lines of the letters and "notes".Well, the evidence is there if you know what to look for.But, you must be acquainted with Arnold Rampersad's excellent and thoroughly meticulous and accurate two biographies of which Bernard is indebted and that of Faith Berry and even the letters between Hughes and Bontemps.Van Vechten sends Hughes a photograph of two very handsome black sailors with interesting text about one of them.Other black men featured in the book, not all, are more associated with Hughes and his "preference" for black men than Van Vechten who one professional reviewer incorrectly said were Vechten's lovers.

Ms. Bernard's book provides an interesting window on two figures important to literaturein the U.S.

Wonderful & Insightful
What a great book.It is amazing how much correspondence reveals about people.This book was so interesting.It truly covers decades of Black artisitic history.

The letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten
Bernard gathers and edits the letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten, written between 1925-64, presenting a notable work of Hughes' mentor and the friendship which evolved between the two men. From discussions of literature and the publishing world to politics and gossip, these letters hold important keys to the personalities and concerns of two great men of the Harlem Renaissance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

I love this book!
I remember studying Langston Hughes's poetry in high school and it was innocuous, Harlem-Renaissance-type poetry. However, this book highlights Hughes's political poetry and socialist essays, and gives readers a completely different perspective of one of the greatest poets of the 1900s. It also offers commentary from Hughes concerning the public backlash toward his poetry and his testimony in the McCarthy hearings. For anyone who wants to know the real Hughes, this book is a must-have. For those who are feeling particularly scholarly, go to the senate website and download the transcript from his testimony. Read together, the collection of poems and the testimony greatly illuminate the life of Langston Hughes. ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of Langston Hughes, an Afro-American poet who tried to capture in his writing the spirit and rhythms of ordinary people. ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of a man who, from the 1920s Harlem Renaissance through the 1960s, wrote poems, stories, and books which celebrated his African American heritage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A must read for Langston Hughes fans!
This bio was very indepth and insightful. I thought I knew a lot about Hughes before I read this book. Martha E. Rhynes definately did her research. I loved it. ... Read more

Product Description
American Critical Archives is a series of reference books that provide representative selections of contemporary reviews of the main works of major American authors. Providing reprints of over 760 reviews and checklists of nearly 950 others, this book represents the first comprehensive collection of contemporary reviews of the writing of Langston Hughes from 1926 until his death in 1967. Celebrated as a young poet of the Harlem Renaissance, his poetry appeared in The Crisis and The New Negro. His other works include the play The Mulatto, and poetry collected in Shakespeare of Harlem and Ask your Mama. This collection will prove indispensable not only to Langston Hughes specialists but to all students of twentieth-century African-American literature. ... Read more

Product Description
Simple text and illustrations describe the life of the Harlem poet whose work gave voice to the joy and pain of the black experience in America. ... Read more

Product Description
Langston Hughes was one of the leading voices in twentieth-century literature. As a writer, he took chances, not minding if what he had to say upset someone. His writing reflected not only his life, but life around him. Whether he attacked the discrimination aimed at African Americans or expounded on communist philosophy, his writing came from who he was.Growing up a lonely little boy, he longed for parents to support him and love him. Instead, they were always leaving him or asking him to be someone other than who he was. His grandmother taught him to be proud of being African American, and he carried this with him throughout his life. He felt disdain for those artists who he felt denied their race.Best known as a poet, Hughes also wrote short stories, novels, plays, lyrics, and nonfiction books for children. One of his favorite things to do was to write poetry that sounded like the blues and jazz music he loved so well. He became a leading voice in the Harlem Renaissance, a 1920s movement of great artistic achievement by African Americans, and remains an inspiration for poets and playwrights in the twenty-first century. ... Read more

Product Description
The last and most explicitly political book of verse by one of the great poets of our century. Published just before his death in 1967, Hughes' sometimes bitter, sometimes ironic, but always powerful poems address the racial politics of the 1960s. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

langston hughes opens myopic eyes
I am captured by Langston Hughes, he is a man who writes poetry that could rock you even if you didn't agree.

This is what poetry is for, to create a movement in a place where stagnant waters gather. I wish that we all could say racism and hatred were just things of the past...but we can't, because they are not. When we grow to understand one race more accurately then we begin to separate and distort (many times extort) another. Fear of the unknown should not grip the way it does, for the unknown is just beauty waiting to be seen. This beauty cannot express itself through our knowledge of the way things should go, but we need to grasp the understanding that it is amazing and created by God not to be seen and classified through our myopic eyes. But through His eyes...Then we could see the anointing in it all, that really...God chose to make us all different because he does not see things through our tunneled minds.

Bridled & Constructive Anger
PANTHER AND THE LASH was written about a year before Langston Hughes died.It consist of verse written during the 60's and verse from earlier works of the 20's, 30's , and 40's with titles that were suppose to divide the book into sections:"Words on Fire," "American Heartbreak," "The Bible Belt," "The Face of the War," "African Question Mark," "Dinner Guest: Me," and "Daybreak in Alabama."The poems reflect the desires, tears, heartbreak, sometimes hope, and anger of a black American community.Also, none were specifically designed to be performed in a particualar method, just simply read with the hope that the reader would gain some type of enlightenment from the words. The earlier poems of thirty years or more before those written for the PANTHER... show that Hughes was well ahead of his time long before the black power and black is beautiful movements that would come to characterized the 1960s.Moreover, they would probably place Hughes lifelong political philosophy somewhere on a scale between Martin Luther King Jr. and a post-Mecca/after Nation of Islam Malcolm X (the Malcolm X who understood that not all white people are enemies). Even today, the poems cannot be entirely dismissed as belonging to a specific time and place when in some instances the words still hold currently true as when they were first written in whatever decade.Work that holds its own against the tests of time, as most of Langston Hughes' work, is work of definite quality. Such is the genius of Langston Hughes!

Langston Hughes was proudly black and understandably closeted gay and far from being stereotypically effete.Hughes often felt exploited and humiliated by his publishers and the larger white community who he generally did not like.Nevertheless, he did acknowledge that some whites could be and were trusted friends in a desired and shared equality and fight for equality.This latter is important to remember since to appeal to a larger audience, Hughes is often presented as a grinning and non-threating Uncle Tom which he "most definitely was not."Langston Hughes was not passive in much of his body of work on race and social issuesas a result of having to deal with the blatent injustices of racism and the deceptive smiles often masking it-- then as now.

The best summation of the work of Langston Hughes were probably his own words, "My seeking has been to explain and illuminate the Negro condition in America and obliquely that of all human kind."

... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An excellent rant of unfair treatment
The treatment of African Americans, it all its un-fair-ity, is described here. What makes this book and this author superb, is the small things that we take for granted that we think would not offend people, actually do and this author points them out. He YELLS about them and I'm glad that I got to read his raves. Bravo!! ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of the black poet whose poems were influenced greatly by jazz and blues rhythms. ... Read more

Product Description
Briefly introduces the life and accomplishments of Langston Hughes, an African American writer who shared his views on racism through his poetry and prose, as well as through poetry readings. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of (James) Langston Hughes, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 5370 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Product Description
Langston Hughes's most beloved character comes back to life in this extraordinary collection

Langston Hughes is best known as a poet, but he was also a prolific writer of theater, autobiography, and fiction. None of his creations won the hearts and minds of his readers as did Jesse B. Semple, better known as "Simple." Simple speaks as an Everyman for African Americans in Uncle Sam's America. With great wit, he expounds on topics as varied as women, Gospel music, and sports heroes--but always keeps one foot planted in the realm of politics and race. In recent years, readers have been able to appreciate Simple's situational humor as well as his poignant questions about social injustice in The Best of Simple and The Return of Simple. Now they can, once again, enjoy the last of Hughes's original Simple books.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Simple's Uncle Sam
This book, containing stories written by Langston Hughes, is not as well known as some of his other "Simple" stories that were compiled from the column he wrote for the Chicago Defender. I was very pleased to be able to discover this collection, and to receive it promptly after ordering it from Amazon.com.
Dr. Patricia Heaston

Langston Hughes gets 5 stars for this!!
The life of poverty and discrimination is all about Simple, the character in Simple's Uncle Sam. He goes through everything and tells about it in his short stories. From his ideas for a Negro President to his ideas for an ugly contest instead of a beauty contest, this man's mind comes alive with explicit detail, description, and opinion. ... Read more

Product Description
A teenager tries to steal the purse of Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones and is rebuked in a surprising fashion. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

It was ok.....
I read this book in my RLA class in 8th grade. I think the book was ok. But i didnt like the story that much. I would recamend the short story "The kid nobody could haned" that book was a very good book!

Thank You M'Am a wonderful book!
A must have for parents of busy little boys....I read this book to my son and he laughed non-stop! Langston Hughes's smooth style of writing was a hit with this book.The story was simple and easy to relate to. I originally borrowed the book.I liked it so much, that I had to buy my own personal copy.

Thankyou m'am
this is the most boring andunexiting book i 've ever read. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
A Vintage Original

“I believe in an America in which opportunity and justice truly are for all. That was the essence of the life an poetry of Langston Hughes.”—Senator John Kerry, from the Preface

A beautifully designed collection of some of the greatest poems by a quintessentially American poet, whose theme of the promise of American inclusiveness continues to ring true.

Langston Hughes was uncommonly attuned to the ideals of freedom and democracy and the sometimes elusive American dream. The poems collected here offer a hopeful, truly democratic vision for America. Incantatory and stirring, passionate and provocative, they are as resonant for our times as they were over half a century ago.

Contents:
“Let America Be America Again,” “Dream of Freedom,” “America,” “Search,” “Some Day,” “In Time of Silver Rain,” “Dare,” “Give Us Our Peace,” “I Dream a World.” ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

It's practically a pamphlet, but has masterpiece written all over it...
I bought this as reading material for a yearlong research project on Langston Hughes for school. I skimmed past the technical details of this product and was shocked to find that it's actually a VERY slim book, almost a bound pamphlet, like I said above. Nonetheless, I love Langston Hughes's work and some of his best poems appear in here, making it ideal for space-saving quick reading or a refresher on family values, identity, etc. It's a fantastic compilation of Hughes's ideas, talent and spirit. ... Read more