Fire!!

by Wallace Thurman (Contributor), Lewis G. Alexander (Contributor), Gwendolyn B. Bennett (Contributor)

A short lived literary journal of the Harlem Renaissance.

Genres: Poetry, History, Plays, Classics

48 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1926

About the author

Wallace Henry Thurman (1902–1934) was an American novelist active during the Harlem Renaissance. He also wrote essays, worked as an editor, and was a publisher of short-lived newspapers and literary journals. He is best known for his novel The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life (1929), which explores discrimination within the black community based on skin color, with lighter skin being more highly valued.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Kev Nickells · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a re-printing of this I picked up through one of those places I really shouldn't be buying from.

It's only a wee journal but it's full of stuff that's of not-just-historical interest - writing which occupies a particular time and place. And critically, blackness. I read of this journal in an article on the so-called n_____ati, a diverse group of young, black, politically engaged writers. So we get a range of what may be considered experimental works - whether in terms of Richard Bruce's grammatically loose work, each clause kind of stapled together with ellipses, or in terms of a really acute excision of a piece about colorism and sexism by Zora Neale Hurston (who I've shamefully never read - must rectify this).

Sometimes journals of 'historical interest' are paralysed by their time and context but this for me does what a journal should do - present a range of voices and styles and giving them a limited space to show off their wares. The 'historical interest' perhaps comes from exposing narratives that weren't massive at the time (and are barely much larger now) - say black women's experiences, black sexuality (including queer sexualities), colourism, literary theory. But for the 'shock of the new' this might've carried a century ago, it now appears to me as a solid and fleeting collection of young, fired up writers who are very much establishing their own voices.

[Sara G · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's so interesting as historical and literary context. Seeing some of Aaron Douglas' early works is truly incredible and I liked Zora Neale Hurston's play Color Struck the most and I'm also always personally fond of Langston Hughes' poetry which is always so vivid and full.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This publication has a mix of black authors and artists with poems, essays and sketches.

[Max Cannon]

Valuable just in witnessing how the genius and artistry of Langston Hughes protrudes even (more) when trapped within the presence of this piece of history next to his contemporaries

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling. Gay. Excellent.

RBN = HBIC

[Maya Danielle]

Lucky enough to read the physical copy. Talk about the unsaid explicitly...

[Hans Ostrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

The one-issue magazine that the younger writers and visual artists assembled, partly to declare independence from the older, more elite members of the Harlem Renaissance. Ironically, many copies of the original perished in a fire. This is a faithful reprint. Works by Thurman, Hurston, Hughes, Nugent, Bennett, and others.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t have too much to say about this. It is interesting how you see certain influences manifest here. We see Wallace Thurman acting as Van Vechten’s burner account to defend Nigger Heaven (which is embarrassing because they acknowledge that Van Vechten was a patron for this issue) but also Zora Neal Hurston’s story about colorism which features a character named Emma and her daughter Lou which seems impossible to not have evolved three years later into Wallace Thurman’s The Blacker the Berry featuring the central character Emma Lou. It’s kind of interesting try to map out the politics going on here. The anti-intelligentsia sentiment alongside the modernist experimental style (Richard Bruce’s Part I of a novel where the only punctuation is ellipses but go off on how the Intelligentsia is pretentious). Also interesting to note the typos that pop up throughout, including “Zona Neale Hurston.” Could be interesting to think about the print culture going on there. There’s little lines here and there that could be worth returning to, but overall I think this is more interesting as a statement of the direction of Black art in the early twentieth-century.

[Camille · Rating 5 out of 5]

studied, but amazing still!