Langston's Salvation : American Religion and the Bard of Harlem / Wallace D. Best.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Best, Wallace D. (Wallace Denino), Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967--Criticism and interpretation.

Hughes, Langston.

African Americans--Religion.

African Americans.

Religion and literature--United States--History--20th century.

Religion and literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (216 pages)

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : New York University Press, [2017]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Winner of the 2018 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in Textual Studies, presented by the American Academy of Religion 2018 Outstanding Academic Title, given by Choice MagazineA new perspective on the role of religion in the work of Langston HughesLangston's Salvation offers a fascinating exploration into the religious thought of Langston Hughes. Known for his poetry, plays, and social activism, the importance of religion in Hughes’ work has historically been ignored or dismissed. This book puts this aspect of Hughes work front and center, placing it into the wider context of twentieth-century American and African American religious cultures. Best brings to life the religious orientation of Hughes work, illuminating how this powerful figure helped to expand the definition of African American religion during this time. Best argues that contrary to popular perception, Hughes was neither an avowed atheist nor unconcerned with religious matters. He demonstrates that Hughes’ religious writing helps to situate him and other black writers as important participants in a broader national discussion about race and religion in America. Through a rigorous analysis that includes attention to Hughes’s unpublished religious poems, Langston’s Salvation reveals new insights into Hughes’s body of work, and demonstrates that while Hughes is seen as one of the most important voices of the Harlem Renaissance, his writing also needs to be understood within the context of twentieth-century American religious liberalism and of the larger modernist movement. Combining historical and literary analyses with biographical explorations of Langston Hughes as a writer and individual, Langston’s Salvation opens a space to read Langston Hughes’ writing religiously, in order to fully understand the writer and the world he inhabited.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction. Looking for Langston

1. New territory for new Negroes

2. Poems of a religious nature

3. “concerning ‘goodbye Christ’”

4. My gospel year

5. Christmas in black

Conclusion. Do nothing till you hear from me

Notes

Index

About the author

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jun 2020)

ISBN:

1-4798-6479-X

OCLC:

1132227221