Hughes, (James) Langston (Vol. 5) - Hughes, (James) Langston 1902–1967
Hughes, (James) Langston 1902–1967
Hughes, a Black American poet, also wrote a novel, short stories, and the humorous "Simple" sketches for which he is best known. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 1-4, rev. ed.; obituary, Vols. 25-28.)
Not Without Laughter deserves notice … as an antidote to the many shrill and artificial Harlem Renaissance novels.
It is not easy to define Hughes' achievement without making him sound corny or soft. Formulations of his work come out like Faulkner's stodgy explanations of his own novels, even to the motifs of "affirmation" and "endurance." Not Without Laughter belongs with the fiction of its simpler time. It is a gentle sequence of well-sketched social views, like so many Negro novels of the period—the family gatherings, the colored ball, the pool hall. It even includes the standard caricature of the Episcopalian, anti-watermelon dicty.
Its special value, like that of...
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