Selected Letters of Langston Hughes

This is the first comprehensive selection from the correspondence of the iconic and beloved Langston Hughes. It offers a life in letters that showcases his many struggles as well as his memorable achievements. Arranged by decade and linked by expert commentary,the volume guides us through HughesΓÇÖs journey in all its aspects: personalpoliticalpracticalandΓÇöabove allΓÇöliterary. His letters range from those written to family membersnotably his father (who opposed LangstonΓÇÖs literary ambitions)and to friendsfellow artistscriticsand readers who sought him out by mail. These figures include personalities such as Carl Van VechtenBlanche KnopfZora Neale HurstonArna BontempsVachel LindsayEzra PoundRichard WrightKurt WeillCarl SandburgGwendolyn BrooksJames BaldwinMartin Luther KingJr.Alice WalkerAmiri Barakaand Muhammad Ali. The letters tell the story of a determined poet precociously finding his mature voice; struggling to realize his literary goals in an environment generally hostile to blacks; reaching out bravely to the young and challenging them to aspire beyond the bonds of segregation; using his artistic prestige to serve the disenfranchised and the cause of social justice; irrepressibly laughing at the world despite its quirks and humiliations. Venturing bravely on what he called the ΓÇ£big seaΓÇ¥ of lifeHughes made his way forward always aware that his only hope of self-fulfillment and a sense of personal integrity lay in diligently pursuing his literary vocation. HughesΓÇÖs voice in these pagesenhanced by photographs and quotations from his poetryallows us to know him intimately and gives us an unusually rich picture of this generousvisionarygratifyingly good man who was also a genius of modern American letters.