Remember Me to Harlem : the Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten, 1925-1964 / Edited by Emily Bernard

Hughes, Langston (1902-1967)

ISBN 10: 0679451137 / ISBN 13: 9780679451136

Published by New York : Knopf, 2001

About this Item

These engaging and wonderfully alive letters paint an intimate portrait of two of the most important and influential figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Carl Van Vechten--older, established, and white--was at first a mentor to the younger, gifted, and black Langston Hughes. But the relationship quickly grew into a great friendship--and for nearly four decades the two men wrote to each other expressively and constantly. They discussed literature and publishing. They exchanged favorite blues lyrics ("So now I know what Bessie Smith really meant by 'Thirty days in jail / With ma back turned to de wall,' " Hughes wrote Van Vechten after a stay in a Cleveland jail on trumped-up charges). They traded stories about the hottest parties and the wildest speakeasies. They argued politics. They gossiped about the people they knew in common--James Baldwin, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, H. L. Mencken. They wrote from near (of racism in Scottsboro) and far (of dancing in Cuba and trekking across the Soviet Union) , and always with playfulness and mutual affection. Today Van Vechten is a controversial figure; some consider him exploitative, at best peripheral to the Harlem Renaissance--or, indeed, as the author of the novelNigger Heaven, a blemish upon it, and upon Hughes by association. The letters tell a different, more subtle and complex story: Van Vechten did, in fact, help Hughes (and many other young black writers) to get published; Hughes in turn appreciated what Van Vechten was trying to do inNigger Heavenand defended him, fiercely. For all their differences, Hughes and Van Vechten remained staunchly loyal to each other throughout their lives. A correspondence of great cultural significance, judiciously gathered together here for the first time and annotated by the insightful young scholar Emily Bernard, Remember Me to Harlemshows us an unlikely friendship, one that is essential to our understanding of literature and race relations in twentieth-century America. Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dw. Particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. ; 356 pages; Description: xxxix, 356 p. : ill. ; 25 cm. Subjects; African-American Novelists, American--20th century--Correspondence. Music critics & Photographers--United States--Correspondence. Harlem Renaissance 1 Kg.

Seller Inventory # 38395

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Remember Me to Harlem : the Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten, 1925-1964 / Edited by Emily Bernard
• Publisher: New York : Knopf
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0679451137
• ISBN 13: 9780679451136
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

About this title

Synopsis

Presents a collection of letters exchanged over the course of four decades between poet Langston Hughes and his mentor, Carl Van Vechten, offering an incisive look at current events and issues.

Review

"Meticulously annotated...serves up a textured, ribald and frequently poignant interracial friendship between two remarkable talents."-"The New York Times Book Review
""Much of the history of race relations-and literary history-in America during the first half of the 20th century is represented here. . . . A magnificent contribution to our understanding of an important friendship."-"The Washington Post"
""Remember Me to Harlem" is not only a major contribution to our understanding of the Harlem Renaissance, it is also a delightful collection of gossipy correspondence between two of its leading-and most intriguing-characters." -- Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
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""If you're interested in the Harlem Renaissance, you can't afford to miss this book."-"Vibe
"""Remember Me to Harlem" serves up a textured, ribald and frequently poignant interracial friendship between two remarkable talents."" "--David Levering Lewis, "The New York Times Book Review
""A remarkable work that reveals a complicated relationship between two important U.S. literary figures whose long friendship reached across the racial divide" -"The Miami Herald

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Meticulously annotated serves up a textured, ribald and frequently poignant interracial friendship between two remarkable talents. The New York Times Book Review
Much of the history of race relations and literary history in America during the first half of the 20th century is represented here. . . . A magnificent contribution to our understanding of an important friendship. The Washington Post
Remember Me to Harlem is not only a major contribution to our understanding of the Harlem Renaissance, it is also a delightful collection of gossipy correspondence between two of its leading and most intriguing characters. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

If you re interested in the Harlem Renaissance, you can t afford to miss this book. Vibe
Remember Me to Harlem serves up a textured, ribald and frequently poignant interracial friendship between two remarkable talents. --David Levering Lewis, The New York Times Book Review
A remarkable work that reveals a complicated relationship between two important U.S. literary figures whose long friendship reached across the racial divide The Miami Herald

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