Negro: An Anthology [Abridged] [Paperback]

Nancy Cunard (Author), Hugh Ford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0826408621 | ISBN-13: 978-0826408624

This is the abridged edition of Nancy Cunard's classic collection. First published in 1934 and mostly neglected in Cunard's own time, Negro has attained the status of a cult classic. The list of contributors—represented in poetry, prose, translations, and music—is a who's who of 20th-century arts and literature: Louis Armstrong, Samuel Beckett, Norman Douglas, Nancy Cunard herself, Theodore Dreiser, W. E. B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, William Plomer, Arthus Schomburg, William Carlos Williams, and more.In its subject and international approach, Negro was generations ahead of its time. Its exploration of black achievement and black anger takes the reader from life in America to the West Indies, South America, Europe, and Africa. Though very much of its time, Negro is also timeless in its depiction of oppressive social and political conditions as well as in its homage to myriad contributions by black artists and thinkers.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The story behind Negro: An Anthology is as legendary as its contents. In the late 1920s, Nancy Cunard, socially conscious, British, white, upper-class nonconformist and heir to the famed Cunard Shipping Line, married a black man and single-handedly put out 100 copies of a groundbreaking anthology. The work contained essays, poetry, short stories, and political propaganda from the era's finest Afro-American writers, along with valuable contributions by several white writers, including William Carlos Williams, Samuel Beckett, and Theodore Dreiser. In this invaluable reprint, we can see how broadly Cunard's interest in the "Negro question" ran. In chapters dealing with slavery, history, education, and the arts--as well as Latin America, Europe, and Africa--Cunard includes the poetry of Langston Hughes and Sterling Brown; Zora Neale Hurston's anthropological study of the "Characteristics of Negro Expressions"; James Ford's legendary "Communism and the Negro"; and glimpses into the conditions and folk customs of blacks in Trinidad, Barbados, Cuba, Brazil, Uruguay, Paris, and West Africa. The most poignant writing, however, is her own account of the infamous case of the Scottsboro Boys, a group of innocent blacks falsely accused of raping two white women, which resulted in their near-execution. Although much of the communist-friendly content of Negro may seem naive by today's standards, the collection still stands as one of the most unique and esoteric compendiums of 20th-century Afro-American literature. --Eugene Holley, Jr.

From Library Journal

In 1934, Nancy Cunard self-published this volume in an edition of 1000 copies through her Hours Press. She was an odd source considering she was a wealthy white Englishwoman. Nonetheless, the volume was very well respected. Chapters in the book cover "Slavery," "Patterns of Negro Life and Expression," "Negro History and Literature," "Education and Law," and more. Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, William Carlos Williams, Samuel Becket, and others contributed to the text. A solid title for any collection and an especially good choice for the upcoming Black History Month in February.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826408621
• ISBN-13: 978-0826408624
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 8.6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #685,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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5.0 out of 5 stars An Epic, December 17, 2009

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This review is from: Negro: An Anthology (Paperback)

A truly remarkable book, the making of which is a fabulous story in itself - arguably one of the most important publications relating to the development of the Black diaspora.

Nancy Cunard lived a life that will surely be transcribed into an Oscar winning film and this extraordinary book, with original copies fetching £100,000 as most were destroyed by German bombs in WW2, is a flawed masterpiece.

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