In the first half of the twentieth century, the Harlem Renaissance resulted in an array of outstanding and groundbreaking art, literature, and music that still resonates with audiences today. A\u00a0number of prominent black artists and intellectuals congregated in Harlem, leading to one of the most significant creative scenes in American cultural history. Some of the writers affiliated with this milieu, including Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, remain widely read by a variety of readers today.<\/span><\/p>\n A recently-discovered manuscript by Claude McKay is being published decades after it was first written. Here\u2019s a look at that book and several others from some of McKay\u2019s contemporaries. Those looking to learn more or delve deeper into this period of literary (and cultural) history may be interested in the Library of Congress\u2019s\u00a0archive of materials<\/a>\u00a0related to the Harlem Renaissance. The Academy of American Poets also has\u00a0an overview<\/a>\u00a0of the movement\u2019s impact on poetry.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s not often that a finished novel by a major literary figure is discovered in archives more than half a century after his death. But that\u2019s precisely\u00a0what happened<\/a>\u00a0with this rich, finely-written novel by Claude McKay. Political conflicts drive the book forward: the novel\u2019s full title is\u00a0Amiable With Big Teeth: A Novel of the Love Affair Between the Communists and the Poor Black Sheep of Harlem<\/em>. It\u2019s set in the mid-1930s, during a time when Italy\u2019s invasion of Ethiopia has captured the attention of many in Harlem, and political clashes stemming from Communist infighting play themselves out in a corner of New York\u00a0society.<\/span><\/p>\n It can be argued that Jean Toomer\u2019s\u00a0Cane<\/em>\u00a0was ahead of its time: it boldly shifted between literary forms in a single work, incorporating prose, poetry, and drama into an overall narrative showing different aspects of black life in the southern United States. The work itself is a fascinating array of styles and characters, and the life of its author was also fascinating: a 2010\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0called Toomer \u201cperhaps the most enigmatic writer associated with the Harlem Renaissance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Zora Neale Hurston\u2019s bibliography encompassed acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction. Her 1935 book\u00a0Mules and Men\u00a0<\/em>is an ethnographic narrative, in which Hurston gathered stories and folktales from residents of Florida and Louisiana. It\u2019s a book that continues to influence writers today. In 2015, novelist Angela Flournoy spoke about its impact on the process of writing her own novel\u00a0The Turner House<\/em>\u00a0in\u00a0an interview<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0The Atlantic<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n James Weldon Johnson\u2019s influence on culture and society was vast: in addition to being an acclaimed writer, he was also a leader of the NAACP, and worked as a diplomat in the early years of the 20th century. One of his major literary works is\u00a0God\u2019s Trombones<\/em>, in which the literary traditions of the sermon and poetry converge in innovative and groundbreaking ways. In more recent decades,\u00a0a stage adaptation<\/a>\u00a0has added another permutation to Johnson\u2019s work.<\/span><\/p>\n Langston Hughes\u2019s written works include acclaimed collections of poetry, novels, and short stories. His first book of poetry was 1926\u2019s\u00a0The Weary Blues<\/em>, in which some of his most acclaimed works were collected. In\u00a0a recent piece<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0The Weary Blues<\/em>, poet and essayist Kevin Young wrote about how Hughes adapted aspects of the blues into poetry, and noted that it was \u201cone of the high points of modernism and of what has come to be called the Harlem Renaissance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Nella Larsen\u2019s autobiographical first novel\u00a0Quicksand<\/em>\u00a0dealt with the emotional and familial conflicts experienced by a young biracial woman early in the 20th century. The novel\u2019s protagonist travels throughout the United States and Denmark in search of a place where she feels at home. This was one of two novels that Larsen wrote in her lifetime; after a period when her work was largely out of print, her books received newfound attention in the late 20th century.<\/span><\/p>\n Countee Cullen\u2019s poetry addressed urgent personal and societal concerns while simultaneously\u00a0 utilizing formal techniques. Some of his works remain widely anthologized to this day; others are more obscure. This collection brings together his body of work as a poet, though he also occasionally worked in prose. And, as an editor, Cullen also assembled\u00a0the poetry anthology\u00a0<\/a>Caroling Dusk<\/em><\/a>, in which the work of several of his contemporaries appears.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
![\"The](\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/signature-logo.jpg\"){kind=logo}
\nAmiable with Big Teeth<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
Claude McKay<\/span><\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/span>
\nCane<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
Jean Toomer<\/span><\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/span>
\nMules and Men<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
Zora Neale Hurston<\/span><\/h4>\n
\nGod’s Trombones<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
Seven Negro Sermons in Verse<\/span><\/h4>\n
James Weldon Johnson<\/span><\/h4>\n
\nThe Weary Blues<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
Langston Hughes<\/span><\/h4>\n
\nQuicksand<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
Nella Larsen<\/span><\/h4>\n
\nCountee Cullen: Collected Poems<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
(American Poets Project #32)<\/span><\/h4>\n
Countee Cullen<\/span><\/h4>\n
<\/a>February 8, 2017<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n