Synopses & Reviews
The first volume of Arnold Rampersad's
The Life of Langston Hughes was published in 1986 to enormous acclaim. It was hailed as "an exquisite orchestration of the fully lived life" (
The Boston Globe), "comprehensive and enthralling" (
The Washington Post Book World), and "a book I have waited half a lifetime for" (Alice Walker). It won the Anisfield-Wolf Award in Race Relations and was named one of the best books of the year by
The New York Times Book Review. Now Rampersad gives us the second and final volume of his epic biography of black America's most original and beloved poet.
Rampersad traces Hughes's life from the humiliations of 1940-41, with his career in jeopardy, to his death in 1967, by which time he was revered not only as the dean of Afro-American writers but also as a world-renowned artist whose poems, plays, and stories had profoundly influenced writers in Africa, the Caribbean, and elsewhere. This volume shows Hughes re-examining his vision of art and radicalism during World War II, when he contributed steadily to the national war effort even as he relentlessly attacked segregation in his country. It recounts his surveillance by the FBI and his hounding by right-wing forces, including Senator Joe McCarthy, who eventually forced him to testify about his radical years.
Through all this period, Rampersad reveals, Hughes never lost sight of his greatest goal: to be an artist in words, committed to black life. His desire resulted in books of verse and fiction that reflected his love of jazz and the blues; in operas in which he collaborated with Kurt Weill, William Grant Still, and Jan Meyerowitz; in musical plays that first brought black gospel to the American stage; in a dozen books for children; and in programs for radio and television featuring stars such as Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier. His passion for life and literature brought him into fellowship--and sometimes sharp conflict--with a wide range of writers, including Richard Wright, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Amiri Baraka.
Written with Rampersad's characteristic grace and meticulous attention to detail, this book combines with the first volume to offer a matchless panorama of life and culture in America and abroad during the first 70 years of this century.
Review
"In this volume you will learn what you wanted to know about Langston and what you did not know you needed to know. Arnold Rampersad, we admire and thank you--for giving us a definitive excursion through Langston Hughes and his time and combination of territories."--Gwendolyn Brooks,
The Washington Times"This volume, like the first, is rich in detail, intelligent, and well written. It satisfies admirably our need for a full understanding of the life and career of Langston Hughes."--Nathan Irvin Huggins, The Nation
"Among the most insightful and fullest studies of any black literary figure."--Essence
"This balanced, honest biography offers deep insights into a major artist's personality and work as well as a sweeping view of American culture in his lifetime."--Library Journal
"Superlative....Rampersad offers a compelling interpretation of a significant chunk of American cultural history, which makes this biography not only entertaining but essential reading."--Rita Dove, The New York Times Book Review
"This excellent biography...will certainly send readers to Rampersad's highly praised Volume I."--Ishmael Reed, Newsday
"[Rampersad] comes closer than anybody else to making sense of a very complicated personality and an unusual literary talent."--Daniel Aaron, The New Republic
"An excellent biography....Scrupulously researched and thoroughly detailed....This is work of monumental scope....It is clear that this is among the best biographies of an American writer we have ever had."--David Nicholson, The Washington Post Book World
"Engrossing....A worthy conclusion to one of the most intelligent and gracefully written biographies in years."--Kirkus Reviews
"Rampersad, in elegant but understated prose, has rendered the world that Langston Hughes made and the world that made him. The recreation of detail is Rampersad's most stunning achievement."--Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Village Voice Literary Supplement
About the Author
About the Author - Arnold Rampersad is the author of The Art and Imagination of W.E.B. Du Bois and co-editor of Slavery and the Literary Imagination.