The Big Sea by Langston Hughes
The man asked me if I liked poetry and if I was familiar with Langston Hughes. I said, yeah yeah and he gave me the libary discarded 1945 edition of The Big Sea.
Langston Hughes starts his story with throwing his books into the sea as he sets out on his first journey.
I thought of the book itself.. the journey from Alfred Knopf publishing it on not the best quality paper during war time, to the Stanley Library Ferrum College from where it was discarded into the hands of a traveller to Guyana who then gave me. No throwing into the sea here. I am not too big a fan of poetry nor of biographies.. but the grey covers and the yellowed paper drew me in.
The language is sweet and light. He tells his story about being black in different parts - Europe, Mexico, Africa, West Indies, different parts of the USA - with all the contradictions without any kind of bitterness. There are many moments of joy and love and sadness and irony. His poems comes at random moments.
He writes about this time being housed at a patron in Park Avenue "That winter I did not feel like writing because I was happy and amused. (I only feel like writing when I am unhappy, bored or have something to say, or that I feel so strongly about that I cannot hold back.). That winter I didn't seem to need to say anything"
The book is an account of the time as well, of how people survived. He took all kinds of work - mess boy, farm labourer, teacher of English in Mexico, bus boy. He writes about the time 'When the Negro was in vogue' and of the ironies of white people coming to watch Negroes have a good time. His piece on the "Interracial conference" exposes the ironies of the ways in which people attempt to bridge difference, not only race difference.. no anger really in his writing, but decades later Audre Lorde writes about the Uses of Anger as she reflects on her discussions across race and other differences.
Some of the name dropping of the people at the parties were a bit lengthy, but good no doubt for historical purposes. There is no rambling though.
The Autobiography ends with the Literary Quarrel with Miss Hurston , and the end of the Harlem Renaissance and of his twenties. He has a gold medal and four hundred dollars to his name and a commitment to make a living from writing. He says that 'Literature(cover quote says Life) is a big sea full of many fish. I let down my nets and pulled. I 'm still pulling'
Langston Hughes starts his story with throwing his books into the sea as he sets out on his first journey.
I thought of the book itself.. the journey from Alfred Knopf publishing it on not the best quality paper during war time, to the Stanley Library Ferrum College from where it was discarded into the hands of a traveller to Guyana who then gave me. No throwing into the sea here. I am not too big a fan of poetry nor of biographies.. but the grey covers and the yellowed paper drew me in.
The language is sweet and light. He tells his story about being black in different parts - Europe, Mexico, Africa, West Indies, different parts of the USA - with all the contradictions without any kind of bitterness. There are many moments of joy and love and sadness and irony. His poems comes at random moments.
He writes about this time being housed at a patron in Park Avenue "That winter I did not feel like writing because I was happy and amused. (I only feel like writing when I am unhappy, bored or have something to say, or that I feel so strongly about that I cannot hold back.). That winter I didn't seem to need to say anything"
The book is an account of the time as well, of how people survived. He took all kinds of work - mess boy, farm labourer, teacher of English in Mexico, bus boy. He writes about the time 'When the Negro was in vogue' and of the ironies of white people coming to watch Negroes have a good time. His piece on the "Interracial conference" exposes the ironies of the ways in which people attempt to bridge difference, not only race difference.. no anger really in his writing, but decades later Audre Lorde writes about the Uses of Anger as she reflects on her discussions across race and other differences.
Some of the name dropping of the people at the parties were a bit lengthy, but good no doubt for historical purposes. There is no rambling though.
The Autobiography ends with the Literary Quarrel with Miss Hurston , and the end of the Harlem Renaissance and of his twenties. He has a gold medal and four hundred dollars to his name and a commitment to make a living from writing. He says that 'Literature(cover quote says Life) is a big sea full of many fish. I let down my nets and pulled. I 'm still pulling'
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