The Cambridge Companion to the Harlem Renaissance

by George Hutchinson (Editor)

The Harlem Renaissance (1918–1937) was the most influential single movement in African American literary history. Its key figures include W. E. B. Du Bois, Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, and Langston Hughes. The movement laid the groundwork for all later African American literature, and had an enormous impact on later black literature world-wide. With chapters by a wide range of well-known scholars, this 2007 Companion is an authoritative and engaging guide to the movement. It first discusses the historical contexts of the Harlem Renaissance, both national and international; then presents original discussions of a wide array of authors and texts; and finally treats the reputation of the movement in later years. Giving full play to the disagreements and differences that energized the renaissance, this Companion presents a set of new readings encouraging further exploration of this dynamic field.

Genres: History, African American, Grad School, Literary Criticism

296 pages, Paperback

First published June 14, 2007

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been working my way through the Library of America Harlem Renaissance set of of nine novels. This Cambridge companion has been a companion (literally) through these novels, explaining context, history and details of the authors and their works. There is certainly a lot more in this genre that I have to read! Some of these essays were difficult and written in an academic, specialist way; others were really easy to understand and were a real help. A real find was Langston Hughes and I will be reading more of his work in the future.

[Robert Bartram · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice reference on HR

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Major Field Prep: 35/133
Authors covered from my lists: Larsen, Thurman, Schuyler, Hurston, McKay, Hughes, Toomer, Fauset, Du Bois