Literary Sisters: Dorothy West and Her Circle, A Biography of the Harlem Renaissance

Verner D. Mitchell; Cynthia Davis

Published by Rutgers University Press 2012

Literary Sisters

Dorothy West and Her Circle, A Biography of the Harlem Renaissance

Verner D. Mitchell and Cynthia Davis

https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813552132

Overview
Contents

About this book

Harlem Renaissance writer Dorothy West led a charmed life in many respects. Born into a distinguished Boston family, she appeared in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, then lived in the Soviet Union with a group that included Langston Hughes, to whom she proposed marriage. She later became friends with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who encouraged her to finish her second novel, The Wedding, which became the octogenarian author’s first bestseller.

Literary Sisters reveals a different side of West’s personal and professional lives—her struggles for recognition outside of the traditional literary establishment, and her collaborations with talented African American women writers, artists, and performers who faced these same problems. West and her “literary sisters”—women like Zora Neale Hurston and West’s cousin, poet Helene Johnson—created an emotional support network that also aided in promoting, publishing, and performing their respective works. Integrating rare photos, letters, and archival materials from West’s life, Literary Sisters is not only a groundbreaking biography of an increasingly important author but also a vivid portrait of a pivotal moment for African American women in the arts.

Author / Editor information

VERNER D. MITCHELL is an associate professor of English at the University of Memphis. He is the editor of This Waiting for Love: Helene Johnson, Poet of the Harlem Renaissance.

CYNTHIA DAVIS is a professor of English and chair of General Education (ACE) at Barry University. She is the author of Dynamic Communication for Engineers and (with Verner D. Mitchell) Dorothy West: Where the Wild Grape Grows and Western Echoes of the Harlem Renaissance: The Life and Writings of Anita Scott Coleman.

Reviews

"With this biography, Mitchell and Davis complete a trilogy of studies of the novelist Dorothy West, poet Helene Johnson, and the women they wrote with, traveled with, performed with, and slept with during the Harlem Renaissance. Highly recommended."

— Choice

"Simply put, this is a deliciously engaging book. The authors weave a rich and well-paced narrative of a network of 'literary sisters,' determined to write despite only dribbling support from the literary establishment. But more than that, the book broadens and deepens our knowledge of the Harlem Renaissance, while correcting so many misconceptions surrounding its fabled artists."

— Deborah E. McDowell, University of Virginia

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Prologue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. “Nothing So Broadening as Travel”: Porgy, 1929 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	8
2. The Benson Family Comes to Boston Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	22
3. Pauline Hopkins and African American Literature in New England Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
4. Boston Girlhoods, 1910–1925 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
5. The Youngest Members of the Harlem Renaissance, 1926–1931 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
6. Russian Interlude, Literary Salons, and Challenge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
Selected Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189

Language: English
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 216
Illustrations
- Other: 23 photographs

eBook

Published: October 18, 2011
ISBN: 9780813552132