Women of the Harlem Renaissance (Women of Letters) [Hardcover]

Cheryl A. Wall (Author)

Book Description

Series: Women of Letters | Publication Date: October 1995

Features the lives and work of women in the Harlem Renaissance - Jessie Redmon Fauset, Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, and others - situated in the traditions of African-American and American writing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For her multidimensional study, Wall chooses to use the most expansive definition of the Harlem Renaissance in order to include writers whose work was published during the Depression and women like Ann Spencer, who lived outside of Harlem. But while Wall discusses the significant contributions of Spencer, Marita Bonner and Georgia Douglas Johnson, her focus is firmly on three central figures: Jessie Redmon Fauset, Nella Larsen and Zora Neale Hurston. Wall offers a wealth of information and insight on their work, lives and interaction with other writers. The three women are quite different. The vivacious Fauset (Plum Bun) was a middle-class, well-traveled northerner who, as literary editor of W.E.B. Du Bois's The Crisis from 1919 to 1926, came to know many of the great literary figures of the time. Larsen had a more tumultuous background and never fit in anywhere until her move to Harlem. It was then that she wrote her acclaimed Quicksand and Passing, the novels that made her part of the inner circle?before she disappeared almost as quickly as she appeared. The most celebrated woman writer of the period, Hurston (Their Eyes Were Watching God and Mules & Men) was also one of the era's few true daughters of the rural South and spent most of the years of the Harlem Renaissance on the road. Wall offers strong critiques of these women's work, uncovering certain similarities, including, most importantly, the travel motif as not only a reflection of the mass migrations of the day but also a larger dislocation.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Traditional studies of the Harlem Renaissance often neglect women writers. Moving women from the margin to the center, Wall (English, Rutgers Univ.) examines the lives and work of novelists Jessie Redmon Fauset, Zora Neale Hurston, and Nella Larsen and such poets as Georgia Douglas Johnson and Annie Scales Spencer. By connecting the women to one another, to the cultural movement in which they worked, and to other early 20th-century women writers, Wall deftly defines their place in American literature. Her biographical and literary analysis surpasses others by following up on diverse careers that often ended far past the end of the movement. Highly recommended for collections on African Americans, women, and 20th-century America.?Brenda M. Brock, SUNY at Buffalo
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr (October 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253329086
• ISBN-13: 978-0253329080
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,431,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful companion piece, December 30, 2002

By 

R. Reeves "rdreeves" (MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women of the Harlem Renaissance (Women of Letters) (Paperback)

This book is a wonderful companion piece to the works of Jessie Redmon Fauset, Nella Larsen and Zora Neale Hurston. Provides critical biographies for all three. Great reference for scholars, but interesting to anyone who's reading these amazing women.