Nationalism, Marxism, and African American Literature Between the Wars: A New Pandora's Box

182 Pages·2003·8.45 MB·English

by  Anthony Dawahare

Nationalism, Marxism, and Afkican American Literature
between the Wars
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Nationalism, Marxism, and
African American Literature
between the Wars
A NEW PANDORA’S BOX
Anthony Dawahare
University Press of Mississippi Jackson
Margaret Walker Alexander Series in Afiican American Studies
www.upress.state.ms.us
An earlier version of chapter 5 was published as “Langston Hughes’s Radical Poetry and
the ‘End of the Race”’ in MELUS 23.3 (fall I 998). An earlier version of chapter 6 was
published as “From No Man’s Land to Mother-Land: Emasculation and Nationalism in
Richard Wright’s Depression-Era Urban Fiction” in African American Review 3 3.3 (fall I 999).
Copyright 0 2003 by University Press of Mississippi
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 4 3 2 I
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-hblication Data
Dawahare, Anthony, I 9 6 I -
Nationalism, Marxism, and African American literature between
the wars : a new Pandora’s box / Anthony Dawahare.
p. cm. - (Margaret Walker Alexander series in African
American studies)
ISBN I -57806-507-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
I . American literature-African American authors-History and
criticism. 2. Nationalism and literature-united
States-History-20th century. 3. Communism and literature-United
States-History-20th century. 4. Socialism and literature-united
States-History-20th century. 5. Black nationalism-United
States-History-20th century. 6. American literature-20th
century-History and criticism. 7. African Americans-Intellectual
life-20th century. 8. African Americans-Politics and government.
9. African Americans in literature. I 0.B lack nationalism in
literature. I I. Politics in literature. I 2. Race in literature.
I. Title. 11. Series.
PSI 53.N5 D34 2002
8 I 0.9’896073-dc2 I 2002006910
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
To Tillie Olsen and her generation of activists from the I 930s-
“strong with the not yet in the now”-who struggled tirelessly for
an egalitarian world free from racism, sexism, and class oppression.
To my children, Wyatt and Hannah, who have better worlds to make.
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
Part I: Nationalism in the Harlem Renaissance
Chapter I. Black Nationalist Discourse in the Postwar Period 3
Chapter 2. The Dual Nationalism of Alain Locke’s The New Negro 30
Chapter 3. The Dance of Nationalism in the Harlem Renaissance 48
Part 11: Internationalism and Afiican American Writing in the 1930s
Chapter 4. Marxism and Black Proletarian Literary Theory 73
Chapter 5. Langston Hughes’s Radical Poetry and the “End of Race” 92
Chapter 6. Richard Wright’s Critique of Nationalist Desire I I I
Afterword: Beyond Twentieth-Century Nationalisms
in the Study of African American Culture I 35
Bibliography I 4 I
Index I 57
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Barbara Foley for her careful reading of the manu-
script; her insights helped to refine several ideas on both African American
literature and the interwar American Left. Thanks to Joseph Skerrett, for-
mer editor of MELUS, who published an earlier version of chapter 5 and
assisted (perhaps unknowingly) in fine-t uning ideas I presented from
chapter 6 at a MELUS conference. Sincere thanks to Bill Mullen and James
Smethurst for their valuable comments on chapter 2 and their stimulating
conversation over the years on African American literature and the Left. I
am also indebted to Houston A. Baker Jr., whose summer seminar on
“African American Voices: Language, Literature, and Criticism in Vernac-
ular Theory and Pedagogy” (Pennsylvania State University, College Park,
June 2 I -25, I 994) helped to shape my comprehension of black literature
and theory. My understanding of the culture and politics of the I 930s
benefited from an NEH Summer Institute I attended in I 995 at the Uni-
versity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, entitled “The Thirties: American
Literature, Art, and Culture in Interdisciplinary Perspective.” The biannual
working-class studies conference at Youngstown State University’s Work-
ing-class Studies Center never failed to enrich my appreciation of work-
ing-class culture and politics. California State University, Northridge,
provided me with vital reassigned time to conduct research for this proj-
ect. The Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, under
the direction of Sarah Cooper, made available indispensable archival ma-
terials on the American literary and political Left. Many conversations
with my longstanding friend Ralph Leck have undoubtedly influenced my
own view of the importance and function of critical theory. Heartfelt
thanks to my parents, Victor and Helen Dawahare, whose daily labors
have helped to shape this writer’s confidence in the working class. And,
finally, profound thanks to Krista Walter, my intimate companion, whose
indefatigable standards for critical thinking and writing have enriched ths
project in more ways than I can express.