Color, Sex, and Poetry: Three Women Writers of the Harlem Renaissance (Blacks in the Diaspora) [Paperback]

Gloria T. Hull (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 22, 1987 | Series: Blacks in the Diaspora

"... absorbing biographical study... " —Black Enterprise

"Meticulously researched and thoroughly engaging... " —Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature

"... a splendid study... excellent... " —Choice

"Color, Sex, and Poetry provides both the bread and the meat of critical analysis and exploration of the lives of three Black women writers." —Belles Lettres

"... Hull succeeds not only in exploring writers whose work is hampered by their 'split authorial personalities' but also in outlining the effects of economic circumstances on literary production." —Signs

A biographical/critical study of three Harlem Renaissance poets—Angelina Weld Grimké, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, and Georgia Douglas Johnson—during a rich and colorful period. Writing from a black feminist critical perspective, Hull recovers these black foremothers and in the process shakes up the traditional black literary canon.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Taking a black feminist perspective, this biographical/critical study explores three writers linked with the Harlem Renaissance as poets, though their literary outputs spanned decades and numerous genres. Here are Alice Dunbar-Nelson voicing racial concerns everywhere but in her literary work; the mysterious, lonely Angelina Grimke, a lesbian writing about lynching; and Georgia Douglas Johnson, a gifted poet who at 62 waited in a clerical pool for a few hours' work. The Harlem Renaissance, whose atmosphere seems elusive here, was far kinder to its male poets. Important literary scholarship, especially for academic libraries with American literature collections. Bettina Drew, English Dept., City Coll . , CUNY
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"... absorbing biographical study ..." Black Enterprise "Meticulously researched and thoroughly engaging ..." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature " ... a splendid study ... excellent ..." Choice "Color, Sex, and Poetry provides both the bread and the meat of critical analysis and exploration of the lives of three Black women writers." Belles Lettres " ... Hull succeeds not only in exploring writers whose work is hampered by their 'split authorial personalities' but also in outlining the effects of economic circumstances on literary production." Signs

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (June 22, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253204305
• ISBN-13: 978-0253204301
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,533,056 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The rediscovery of three important artists, March 8, 2001

By 

Eileen Galen (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Color, Sex, and Poetry: Three Women Writers of the Harlem Renaissance (Blacks in the Diaspora) (Paperback)

This excellent work of criticism and biography focuses on the works and the worlds of Harlem Renaissance poets Angelina Weld Grimke (1880-1956), Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875-1935, and Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880-1966). Grimke was a published author of plays, short stories, and poetry. Dunbar-Nelson was an editor, poet, and journalist, and an important hostess to the famous and not-so-famous personalities of her time. Johnson was an educator, an assured formalist poet and a considerable social force with a memorable and important salon. Despite the minimization of Johnson's contributions in, for example the 1932 edition of "Who's Who in Colored America," in which she is listed as "housewife/writer," Dr. Hull is undaunted in her pursuit of the truthful meaning of these writers' full lives and contributions.

These writers led purposeful and productive writing and personal lives despite the fact that "at no point in their lives did anyone ever provide them with leisure to write." (p. 10). In addition, Dr. Hull asserts that black women participants' experience of the Harlem Renaissance had embedded in it the usual social tensions of caste and social class - plus the biggest handicap of all: femaleness. In most aspects, it was (not surprisingly) a man's world.

Dr. Hull has done something wonderful here. Photographs of each poet are included in the wealth of biographical material. The research is deep, as is the interpretation. Texts are excerpted. She has read letters, diaries, and a wealth of unpublished material. There is good historical and social context provided. This is a valuable, assured study. There are pages of notes, and a good index.

Definitely worth reading.