Heroine of the Harlem Renaissance and Beyond: Gwendolyn Bennett’s Selected Writings

Published by Penn State University Press 2018

Heroine of the Harlem Renaissance and Beyond

Gwendolyn Bennett’s Selected Writings

Edited by: Belinda Wheeler and Louis J. Parascandola

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271082608

Overview
Contents

About this book

Poet, columnist, artist, and fiction writer Gwendolyn Bennett is considered by many to have been one of the youngest leaders of the Harlem Renaissance and a strong advocate for racial pride and the rights of African American women. Heroine of the Harlem Renaissance and Beyond presents key selections of her published and unpublished writings and artwork in one volume.

From poems, short stories, and reviews to letters, journal entries, and art, this collection showcases Bennett’s diverse and insightful body of work and rightfully places her alongside her contemporaries in the Harlem Renaissance—figures such as Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Countee Cullen. It includes selections from her monthly column “The Ebony Flute,” published in Opportunity, the magazine of the National Urban League, as well as newly uncovered post-1928 work that proves definitively that Bennett continued writing throughout the following two decades. Bennett’s correspondence with canonical figures from the period, her influence on Harlem arts institutions, and her political writings, reviews, and articles show her deep connection to and lasting influence on the movement that shaped her early career.

An indispensable introduction to one of the era’s most prolific and passionate minds, this reevaluation of Bennett’s life and work deepens our understanding of the Harlem Renaissance and enriches the world of American letters. It will be of special value to scholars and readers interested in African American literature and art and American history and cultural studies.

Author / Editor information

Wheeler Belinda :

Belinda Wheeler is Associate Professor of English at Claflin University and the editor of several books, most recently A Companion to Australian Aboriginal Literature.Parascandola Louis J. :

Louis J. Parascandola is Professor of English at Long Island University, Brooklyn, and the editor of several books, most recently Amy Jacques Garvey: Selected Writings from the Negro World, 1923–1928.

Reviews

“Wheeler and Parascandola have done a great service in finding and gathering work by Bennett, an important writer, editor, and artist who has received much less attention than she deserves.”
—C. A. Bily, Choice

“This superbly edited collection will introduce many readers to a more versatile and accomplished Gwendolyn Bennett than they have known before. It includes the unpublished political poetry that extends her range and impact, making her a key figure of the 1930s.”
—Cary Nelson, author of Repression and Recovery: Modern American Poetry and the Politics of Cultural Memory, 1910–1945

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Foreword Maureen Honey Publicly Available Download PDF	x
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Note on the Text Publicly Available Download PDF	xvii
Bennett Timeline Publicly Available Download PDF	xviii
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Published Works
Poetry Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
Art Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	35
Short Stories Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
Editorials Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	58
Reviews Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	75
Cultural and Social Articles Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
Unpublished Work
Poetry Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
Unfinished Novel Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	132
Essays Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	142
Diaries Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Correspondence Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	192
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245

Language: English
Publisher: Penn State University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 272
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 7
- Images: 7
- Other: 7 illustrations
Keywords: Gwendolyn Bennett; African American Women Writers; Harlem Renaissance

eBook

Published: May 17, 2018
ISBN: 9780271082608