Nationalism, Marxism, and Afkican American Literature between the Wars This page intentionally left blank Nationalism, Marxism, and African American Literature between the Wars A NEW PANDORA’S BOX Anthony Dawahare University Press of Mississippi Jackson Margaret Walker Alexander Series in Afiican American Studies www.upress.state.ms.us An earlier version of chapter 5 was published as “Langston Hughes’s Radical Poetry and the ‘End of the Race”’ in MELUS 23.3 (fall I 998). An earlier version of chapter 6 was published as “From No Man’s Land to Mother-Land: Emasculation and Nationalism in Richard Wright’s Depression-Era Urban Fiction” in African American Review 3 3.3 (fall I 999). Copyright 0 2003 by University Press of Mississippi All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 4 3 2 I Library of Congress Cataloging-in-hblication Data Dawahare, Anthony, I 9 6 I - Nationalism, Marxism, and African American literature between the wars : a new Pandora’s box / Anthony Dawahare. p. cm. - (Margaret Walker Alexander series in African American studies) ISBN I -57806-507-0 (cloth : alk. paper) I . American literature-African American authors-History and criticism. 2. Nationalism and literature-united States-History-20th century. 3. Communism and literature-United States-History-20th century. 4. Socialism and literature-united States-History-20th century. 5. Black nationalism-United States-History-20th century. 6. American literature-20th century-History and criticism. 7. African Americans-Intellectual life-20th century. 8. African Americans-Politics and government. 9. African Americans in literature. I 0.B lack nationalism in literature. I I. Politics in literature. I 2. Race in literature. I. Title. 11. Series. PSI 53.N5 D34 2002 8 I 0.9’896073-dc2 I 2002006910 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available To Tillie Olsen and her generation of activists from the I 930s- “strong with the not yet in the now”-who struggled tirelessly for an egalitarian world free from racism, sexism, and class oppression. To my children, Wyatt and Hannah, who have better worlds to make. This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction xi Part I: Nationalism in the Harlem Renaissance Chapter I. Black Nationalist Discourse in the Postwar Period 3 Chapter 2. The Dual Nationalism of Alain Locke’s The New Negro 30 Chapter 3. The Dance of Nationalism in the Harlem Renaissance 48 Part 11: Internationalism and Afiican American Writing in the 1930s Chapter 4. Marxism and Black Proletarian Literary Theory 73 Chapter 5. Langston Hughes’s Radical Poetry and the “End of Race” 92 Chapter 6. Richard Wright’s Critique of Nationalist Desire I I I Afterword: Beyond Twentieth-Century Nationalisms in the Study of African American Culture I 35 Bibliography I 4 I Index I 57 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments I would like to thank Barbara Foley for her careful reading of the manu- script; her insights helped to refine several ideas on both African American literature and the interwar American Left. Thanks to Joseph Skerrett, for- mer editor of MELUS, who published an earlier version of chapter 5 and assisted (perhaps unknowingly) in fine-t uning ideas I presented from chapter 6 at a MELUS conference. Sincere thanks to Bill Mullen and James Smethurst for their valuable comments on chapter 2 and their stimulating conversation over the years on African American literature and the Left. I am also indebted to Houston A. Baker Jr., whose summer seminar on “African American Voices: Language, Literature, and Criticism in Vernac- ular Theory and Pedagogy” (Pennsylvania State University, College Park, June 2 I -25, I 994) helped to shape my comprehension of black literature and theory. My understanding of the culture and politics of the I 930s benefited from an NEH Summer Institute I attended in I 995 at the Uni- versity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, entitled “The Thirties: American Literature, Art, and Culture in Interdisciplinary Perspective.” The biannual working-class studies conference at Youngstown State University’s Work- ing-class Studies Center never failed to enrich my appreciation of work- ing-class culture and politics. California State University, Northridge, provided me with vital reassigned time to conduct research for this proj- ect. The Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, under the direction of Sarah Cooper, made available indispensable archival ma- terials on the American literary and political Left. Many conversations with my longstanding friend Ralph Leck have undoubtedly influenced my own view of the importance and function of critical theory. Heartfelt thanks to my parents, Victor and Helen Dawahare, whose daily labors have helped to shape this writer’s confidence in the working class. And, finally, profound thanks to Krista Walter, my intimate companion, whose indefatigable standards for critical thinking and writing have enriched ths project in more ways than I can express.
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