New Negro, Old Left
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.40 (533 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0231114257 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 272 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-04-14 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
(American Studies)William Maxwell's creative and compelling new book presents the case for a mutual indebtedness, a two-way channel 'between radical Harlem and Soviet Moscow, between the New Negro renaissance and proletarian literature' of the 1920s and 1930s. Lucidly argued and written, New Negro, Old Left is an astute, original addition to work on the Harlem Renaissance, proletarian literature and, in particular, the often misrepresented relationship between them. (James Grove, Mount Mercy College College Literature)In this brilliant book, Maxwell closes significant theoretical gaps in the histories of African American literature and communism. Rosenthal, John Carroll University Choice) . Specialists in black culture and Communism will come away from the experience of readingNew Negro, Old Left with a much enriched apprehension of the ambiguities of cultural practice and a salutary desire to open up some of those little boxes ('Harlem R
New Negro, Old Left: Vital Reading ()For those who are interested in African American and Caribbean writers, radical and progressive authors, the link between modernist literary production and social movements, the history of jazz and folk idioms, as well as the way in which sexuality figures in race and politics, New Negro, Old Left is vital reading. ()
Breaking from studies governed by Cold War investments and pivoting on the Great Depression, Maxwell argues that Communism's rare sustenance for African-American initiativenot a seduction of Depression-scarred innocentsbrought scores of literary "New Negroes" to the Old Left.. Howard "Stretch" Johnson, a charismatic Harlemite who graduated from Cotton Club dancer to Communist Party youth leader, once claimed that in late 1930s New York "75% of black cultural figures had Party membership or maintained regular meaningful contact with the Party." He stretched the truth, but barely. Claude McKay's 1922-23 pilgrimage to the Soviet Union, for example, usually recalled as a lighthearted adventure in radical tourism, actually jumpstarted the Comintern's controversial nation-centered program for Afro America. In a broad-ranging, revisionary account of the