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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.
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.
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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
From the Back Cover:
"When the two first met in November 1924, Carl Van Vechten was a socially adept, married, homosexual, 44-year-old white man. Langston Hughes was a poor, single, sexually ambiguous, talented but barely published 22-year-old black man. Their shifting relationship over the next four decades is embodied in this correspondence. The adroit selection of photographs-many by Van Vechten-and Emily Bernard's lucid, scrupulous annotation bring this rich period to life."
-Steven Watson, author of The Harlem Renaissance and Prepare for Saints
"The friendship between Hughes and Van Vechten is surely one of the more inspiring in recent American history. Meeting in the 1920s as an aspiring young black poet and a celebrated white man of letters, they crossed almost every hurdle that an often disapproving society set before them. Sharp differences about art and politics, about money and the complexities of culture-these were never allowed to come decisively between them. They had in common an irrepressible love of life and art, an enduring sense of the value of friendship, and a delight in African American culture from top to bottom. These letters, superbly chosen, attest to the depth of their relationship, its sparkling optimism, its priceless sense of honor, and its determination to survive despite the expectations of a needlessly divided nation."
-Arnold Rampersad, author of The Life of Langston Hughes and co-editor of The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
"Remember Me to Harlem is not only a major contribution to our understanding of the Harlem Renaissance, it is a delightful collection of gossipy correspondence between two of its leading-and most intriguing-characters."
-Henry Louis Gates, Jr., author of Wonders of the African World
-Steven Watson, author of The Harlem Renaissance and Prepare for Saints
"The friendship between Hughes and Van Vechten is surely one of the more inspiring in recent American history. Meeting in the 1920s as an aspiring young black poet and a celebrated white man of letters, they crossed almost every hurdle that an often disapproving society set before them. Sharp differences about art and politics, about money and the complexities of culture-these were never allowed to come decisively between them. They had in common an irrepressible love of life and art, an enduring sense of the value of friendship, and a delight in African American culture from top to bottom. These letters, superbly chosen, attest to the depth of their relationship, its sparkling optimism, its priceless sense of honor, and its determination to survive despite the expectations of a needlessly divided nation."
-Arnold Rampersad, author of The Life of Langston Hughes and co-editor of The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
"Remember Me to Harlem is not only a major contribution to our understanding of the Harlem Renaissance, it is a delightful collection of gossipy correspondence between two of its leading-and most intriguing-characters."
-Henry Louis Gates, Jr., author of Wonders of the African World
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherAlfred A. Knopf
- Publication date2001
- ISBN 10 1422363872
- ISBN 13 9781422363874
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages356
- Rating
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