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Modernism II: The Harlem Renaissance - Coggle Diagram
Modernism II: The Harlem Renaissance
General information
The Harlem Renaissance takes place, as Modernism in general, roughly between the two World Wars
Scholars disagree when exactly it began and ended, but they all place it in the 1920s and 1930s, and the 1920s are seen as a kind of climax, whereas the stock market crash in 1929 is seen again as the beginning of a decline of the movement.
Significance of the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North --> as Modernism in general, the Harlem Renaissance is largely an urban phenomenon
Harlem Renaissance as African American Modernism
African American writers at that time do see themselves as "avant- garde" --> many of their works can be classified as experimental writing
But being "avant-garde" also seems to have a different meaning for African Americans. Sometimes it means free verse or stream of consciousness, or the use of black vernacular (dialect and/or sociolect) or even writing sonnets
The Harlem Renaissance and African American Culture
In a survey of the literary mainstream, African Americans tend to "pop up" from time to time
African American writing then looks like a series of footnotes to the mainstream, not like a tradition of its own.
Another interesting decision of the Norton editors is to connect literary history in the narrow sense of the word to the African American oral tradition of blues and jazz --> there are new period designations and an extremely broad definition of literature
The idea of an African American tradition comes across. Minority literatures follow a logic of their own.
African American "Double-Consciousness"
Self-awareness gives you a sense of "who you are", a sense of identity. But "the Negro", according to the quote, has "no true self-consciousness" because he (she) sees himself (herself) constantly through the eyes of others. His or her self-image is defined by others.
If "double-consciousness" leads to a negative, contradictory, and confused image of oneself, how do we arrive at a true self-consciousness?
He (Du Bois) simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.
Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance
Langston Hughes (1902-1967) is “the most popular” writer of the Harlem Renaissance --> he was a man well-connected in the literary network who soon became a legend.
The other side of Hughes is as important: his political activism with decidedly left-wing opinions.