Fire!! a Quarterly Devoted to the Younger Negro Artists [Paperback]

Wallace Thurman (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1985

FIRE!! was one of the most important publications of the Harlem Renaissance. It was created in 1926 by a young group of African American artists and writers who intended it to be the first issue of a

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

WALLACE THURMAN, a native of Salt Lake City, was the author of two important Harlem Renaissance novels, THE BLACKER THE BERRY and INFANTS OF THE SPRING. The first of these describes the travails of a dark-skinned woman trying to make her way in the color-conscious world of the black bourgeoisie. It was among the earliest books to explore in depth the self-hatred generated within the Black community by the internalization of white standards of physical beauty. INFANTS OF THE SPRING is a roman a clef featuring as characters Thurman himself, Richard Bruce Nugent, and the other members of the niggerattithe younger group of writers and artists which created FIRE!!. An important critic, and one of the first black editors to be employed by a white publishing house, Thurman also co-authored HARLEM, a popular Broadway play based on Cordelia the Crude, a story which appeared in FIRE!!. Thurman died of tuberculosis aggravated by alcoholism in 1934 at the age of 32.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Fire Pr; Facsimile Edition edition (June 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0912607009
• ISBN-13: 978-0912607009
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #427,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crucial Literary Magazine, December 3, 2009

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R. Drury "Perpetual Student" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fire!! a Quarterly Devoted to the Younger Negro Artists (Paperback)

If you haven't seen the film, Brother to Brother (2004), you should watch it for an in-depth dramatization of the creation of this important literary magazine. The Fire!! Press provides a carbon copy of Richard Bruce Nugent's original edition of FIRE!! and even includes a prologue-like insert detailing Nugent's historical account. So many great authors and poets - awesome illustrations by Aaron Douglas and Nugent - and a real variety of content considering the talent of the magazine's contributors and editors. I would call this magazine the fiery core of the youth scene in the Harlem Renaissance. (I believe Wallace Thurman was 24 years old when this was published in 1926. Also, look up The 267 House - a communal, bohemian hotspot in the 1920's - home to many of the contributors of FIRE!!)

I bought this magazine as a resource for one of my classes and I am more than eager to share it with folks I know. FIRE!! is an incredible timepiece and after you have done a bit of casual research into the context of its publication you may want to own a copy of it yourself!

Here are some links for research:
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