The Big Sea: An Autobiography

by Langston Hughes, Arnold Rampersad (Introduction)

Overview

"This book is the chronicle of a bright and lively artistic ear that brought the African-American people full into the twentieth century. It is a wonderful book!” —Amiri Baraka

In his incisive introduction to The Big Sea, an American classic, Arnold Rampersad writes: "This is American writing at its best—simpler than Hemingway; as simple and direct as that of another Missouri-born writer...Mark Twain."

Langston Hughes, born in 1902, came of age early in the 1920s. In The Big Sea he recounts those memorable years in the two great playgrounds of the decade—Harlem and Paris. In Paris he was a cook and waiter in nightclubs. He knew the musicians and dancers, the drunks and dope fiends. In Harlem he was a rising young poet—at the center of the "Harlem Renaissance."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780809015498
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	08/01/1993
Series:	American Century Series
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.55(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	1090L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Langston Hughes (1902-67) was born in Joplin, Missouri, was educated at Lincoln University, and lived for most of his life in New York City. He is best known as a poet, but he also wrote novels, biography, history, plays, and children's books. Among his works are two volumes of memoirs, The Big Sea and I Wonder as I Wander, and two collections of Simple stories, The Best of Simple and The Return of Simple.

Arnold Rampersad, Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature at Princeton University, is the author of The Life of Langston Hughes and editor of The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes.

Editorial Reviews

Langston Hughes is the Jazz Poet! The constant communicator of Blues. He is the singer, philosopher, the folk and urban lyricist. This book is the chronicle of a bright and lively artistic ear that brought the African-American people full into the twentieth century. It is a wonderful book!” —Amiri Baraka

From the Publisher

Langston Hughes is the Jazz Poet! The constant communicator of Blues. He is the singer, philosopher, the folk and urban lyricist. This book is the chronicle of a bright and lively artistic ear that brought the African-American people full into the twentieth century. It is a wonderful book!

Amiri Baraka

**** Reprint of the Hill & Wang edition of 1964 (first edition 1940), with a new introduction by Arnold Rampersad. The work is cited in BCL3. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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