The Splendid Drunken Twenties: Selections from the Daybooks, 1922-1930 [Hardcover]

Carl Van Vechten (Author), Bruce Kellner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 3, 2003

This generous, representative sampling from the daybooks of Carl Van Vechten, one of the most significant figures of the Harlem Renaissance, is a rich resource and major reference tool for reconstructing the culture of 1920s New York, the social milieu during Prohibition, and more. Bruce Kellner has provided copious, informative notes identifying central figures and clarifying details. Between 1922 and 1930, Van Vechten kept a daily record of his activities. Not exactly diaries, but more than appointment books, the daybooks record his daily comings and goings, as well as the alliances, drinking habits, feuds, and affairs of a wide number of luminaries of the period. They catalog tales of bootlegging, literary teas, shifting cliques of artists and writers, cabaret slumming, sexual and social peccadilloes, and a seemingly endless sequence of parties.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This unique document stands alone in its monumental recordings of the comings, goings, and doings of a diverse and fascinating group of prominent writers, artists, publishers, actors, producers, activists, and more. With his painstaking editing and annotation, Kellner has done a tremendous service to all scholars of the period." -- Thadious Davis, author of Nella Larsen, Novelist of the Harlem Renaissance: A Woman's Life Unveiled

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (September 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252028481
• ISBN-13: 978-0252028489
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,103,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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