This is the first comprehensive selection from the correspondence of the
iconic and beloved Langston Hughes. It offers a life in letters that
showcases his many struggles as well as his memorable achievements.
Arranged by decade and linked by expert commentary, the volume guides us
through Hughes's journey in all its aspects: personal, political,
practical, and--above all--literary. His letters range from those
written to family members, notably his father (who opposed Langston's
literary ambitions), and to friends, fellow artists, critics, and
readers who sought him out by mail. These figures include personalities
such as Carl Van Vechten, Blanche Knopf, Zora Neale Hurston, Arna
Bontemps, Vachel Lindsay, Ezra Pound, Richard Wright, Kurt Weill, Carl
Sandburg, Gwendolyn Brooks, James Baldwin, Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Alice Walker, Amiri Baraka, and Muhammad Ali. The letters tell the story
of a determined poet precociously finding his mature voice; struggling
to realize his literary goals in an environment generally hostile to
blacks; reaching out bravely to the young and challenging them to aspire
beyond the bonds of segregation; using his artistic prestige to serve
the disenfranchised and the cause of social justice; irrepressibly
laughing at the world despite its quirks and humiliations. Venturing
bravely on what he called the "big sea" of life, Hughes made his way
forward always aware that his only hope of self-fulfillment and a sense
of personal integrity lay in diligently pursuing his literary vocation.
Hughes's voice in these pages, enhanced by photographs and quotations
from his poetry, allows us to know him intimately and gives us an
unusually rich picture of this generous, visionary, gratifyingly good
man who was also a genius of modern American letters.
