Langston Hughes Biography
American Poet, Short-Story Writer, Author and Playwright
Brief biography of Langston Hughes - his life, career, and poetry - a leading author of Harlem Renaissance and creator of character 'Jesse B Simple.'
James Mercer Langston Hughes was a poet and novelist who depicted African-American life in the first half of the 20th century. He was author of the Harlem Renaissance in which the artistic and literary movement was concerned with developing black pride.
Early Training, Education and Poetry
Hughes was born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri, educated at Cleveland Central High School and later at Columbia University and Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He published his first collection of poetry, The Weary Blues, at age 24, and his verses in Selected Poems. After many travels he became a newspaper correspondent in the Spanish Civil War. Some of his sea trips are recorded in I Wonder As I Wonder.
Hughes' Influences
Growing up in the United States at the beginning of the century, Hughes was influenced by leading thinkers such as W.E.B. Du Bois, who emphasized the importance of African culture to black Americans. Hughes shared Du Bois's belief that renewal could only come from an understanding of African roots. His writing often reflects these concerns, as in the collection of poems Lament for Dark People. Hughes was also influenced by Walt Whitman and the Bible.
Langston Hughes' Legacy
He is remembered especially for the creation of 'Jesse B. Simple', a character who appears in several books, including Simple Speaks His Mind. 'Jesse B. Simple' first appeared in racy newspaper sketches before the publication of The Best of Simple in 1957.
Hughes' autobiography, The Big Sea, describes the period of the Harlem Renaissance. This period produced the first large collection of work in the US by African Americans, including Hughes, Countee Cullen and Arna Bontemps. Although the movement faded away during the Great Depression, its influence is to be found in the writings of later authors, such as James Baldwin.
Langston Hughes translated selection of verses written by Gabriela Mistral, the first South American writer to win a Nobel Prize in Literature. His own lyrical verses, echoing his wide knowledge of folk culture, colloquial speech, jazz and blues, made him highly popular and famous in his time.
Books by Langston Hughes
- The Weary Blues
- Fine Clothes to the Jew
- Not Without Laughter, Novel
- The Ways of White Folks, Short Stories
- The Big Sea, Autobiography
- Shakespeare in Harlem
- Lament for Dark People
- Simple Speaks His Mind
- I Wonder As I Wonder, Memoir
- Ask Your Mama
- A Pictorial History of the Negro in America, nonfiction
- The Weary Bones, Poetry
- Fine Clothes to the Jew, Poetry
- Montage of a Dream Deferred, Poetry
- Mule Bone, Play (Zora Neale Hurston)
- The Panther and the Lash (Published after his death)
- Good Morning Revolution (Published after his death)
Link
Source:
Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring (1994)
