Where the wild grape grows : selected writings, 1930-1950 / Dorothy West ; edited by Cynthia Davis and Verner D. Mitchell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

West, Dorothy.

Contributor:

Mitchell, Verner D.

Davis, Cynthia

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

West, Dorothy, 1907-1998--Correspondence.

West, Dorothy.

African Americans--Fiction.

African Americans.

Authors, American--20th century--Correspondence.

Authors, American.

African American authors--Correspondence.

African American authors.

Harlem Renaissance--Sources.

Harlem Renaissance.

Physical Description:

pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, 2026.

Summary:

"Originally published in 2005, Where the Wild Grape Grows : Selected Writings, 1930–1950 was the first book-length study of Dorothy West’s work, providing a rich and insightful profile of one of the last surviving members of the Harlem Renaissance. Although West (1907–1998) is often remembered for her novels of Boston’s African American community and her lifelong ties to Martha’s Vineyard, her career was also shaped by her formative years in New York, where she moved among the era’s most influential writers, artists, and political figures, including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, and many others. Cynthia Davis and Verner D. Mitchell document these early decades with care, recovering out-of-print, little-known, and unpublished works, alongside evocative family photographs, to illuminate West’s distinctive voice and vision. This expanded second edition includes three important pieces not featured in the first edition: West’s story “Cook,” which foreshadows tropes of racial and gendered double consciousness and geographic mobility later developed in her novels; and her two Russian texts, “Room in Red Square” and “Russian Correspondence.” This new edition situates West’s writings within the larger history of African American artists’ fascination with and ambivalence toward the U.S.S.R. The editors also extend their analysis beyond West’s early life to consider her final three decades, a period of renewed creativity and recognition. With a revised, enhanced introduction and a richer selection of West’s writings, this updated second edition is an indispensable resource for understanding the full scope of Dorothy West’s life, art, and enduring legacy." From publisher

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

162534953X

9781625349538

1625347057

9781625347053

OCLC:

1548257981