Socialist joy in the writing of Langston Hughes

265 Pages·2006·11.456 MB·English

by  Hughes, Langston, Scott, Jonathan, Hughes, Langston

Socialist Joy in the
Langston
Writing of
Hughes
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Socialist Joy in the
Writing of Langston
Hughes
Jonathan Scott
Copyright © 2006 by
The Curators of the University of Missouri
University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri 65201
Printed and bound in the United States of America
All rights reserved
5 4 3 2 1 10 09 08 07 06
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Scott, Jonathan, 1968–
Socialist joy in the writing of Langston Hughes /Jonathan Scott.
p. cm.
Summary: “Explores Hughes’s intellectual method and its relation
to social activism. Examines his involvement with socialist move-
ments of the 1920s and 1930s and contends that the goal of over-
throwing white oppression produced a “socialist joy” expressed
repeatedly in his later work, in spite of the anti-communist crusades
of the cold war”—Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8262-1677-9 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8262-1677-3 (alk. paper)
1. Hughes, Langston, 1902–1967—Criticism and interpretation.
2. Hughes, Langston, 1902–1967—Political and social views.
3. Socialism in literature. 4. Socialism and literature—United
States—History—20th century. 5. African Americans in
literature. I. Title.
PS3515.U274Z78 2007
818(cid:2).5209—dc22
2006024593
øThis paper meets the requirements of the American
National Standard for Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, Z39.48, 1984.
Designer: Jennifer Cropp
Typesetter: The Composing Room of Michigan, Inc.
Printer and binder: The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group
Typefaces: Palatino, Typewriter, and Courier
“Tired,” copyright © 1994 by The Estate of Langston
Hughes, used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a
division of Random House, Inc.
“The Blood of Others” by Gioconda Belli used by
permission of Curbstone Press.
For Deedee
and in memory of
Ruth Scott

There is more of a concentration today on the affir-
mation of identity, the need for roots, the values
of one’s culture and one’s sense of belonging. It’s
become quite rare to project one’s self outward.
—Edward Said

Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1. The Backward Glance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2. Socialism, Nationalism, and Nation-Consciousness
The Antinomies of Langston Hughes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3. The Poet as Journalist
Aesthetics of Black Equality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
4. The Collage Aesthetic
The Writer as Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .219
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .245
ix