united states

Langston Hughes's work is a masterpiece at it's best. Any true fan of Langston should explore this fantastic journey of words driven by an absolute genius.

Before reading this book of short stories, I knew practically nothing about Hughes, other than that he was famous for being one of the first black American writers to develop a style of writing which directly reflected the uniqueness of the Afro-American experience.

Reading this collection, however, introduced me for the first time to the mind of a truly great observer, thinker, and communicator. Hughes achieved something which is very important in the now overly politicized climate of race: he documented not only the confounding and hostile conditions which blacks had to endure in the early 20th century, but he understood the white culture as well. Through the eyes of the shrewd and empathetic Hughes, these stories read not so much as indictments of white racism as they do as the clashes of two dramatically different cultures.

To be sure, Hughes does not pull any punches when describing the hostility, condescension, and apathy of whites towards blacks during the Great Depression. These stories are glimpses into a world when overt racism was not only condoned, it was institutionalized as part of the American fabric. But despite the awful conditions for black people at the time, I never got the sense that Hughes was writing to express any personal rage or contempt for white people. He seems to present each heartbreaking scenario as an absurd juxtaposition between two disparate cultures. Instead of taking the easy road by presenting whites as evil, he makes them out to be a paranoid, anal retentive, soulless lot who don't know how to enjoy themselves. Unlike many contemporary discussions of race which tend to oversimplify the complex problems we face, Hughes's stories paint the clash between blacks and whites with deep humanity, empathy, nuance, and even humor.

Stylistically, he certainly belongs to the canon of outstanding 20th century American writers, black and white. He was no mere experimentalist (as I had previously thought), but rather a well schooled craftsman who did his homework first, and then did his own thing with it.

But aside from all my amateur literary criticm, I would like to mention that I simply could not put this book down. These stories are a gift!

Hughes, from this book at least, seems to have a very simple yet honest style. From his writing we can easily tel he is a revolutionary writers even though he never states it. He sides with the african americans and describes them as being more humane then their white social superiors. The book is very good but his style is a bit bland for my taste.

Sitting at about 225p paper back for 10$ its an overpriced book. I payed 12 for mine, but it was for school so i hadnt the time to argue over the consumer's pretty pennies of fortune. 10 is cheaper than mine, but a paper back thats less than 350 pages should be over 6$ in my opinion. Plus Langeston is dead, so it's jsut going over to whomever has the rights to his work. Quite greedy of them, no?