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Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, MO in 1901 and The Big Sea takes him to age 31 and what an amazing life he had in just 31 years, a published poet, novelist and short story writer. He worked on ships traveling to Africa, Paris, Italy, South America. He was a key member of the Harlem Renaissance and met so many fascinating people and had such memorable adventures. All of which he details in this book.
Langston Hughes's life wasn't easy though. His relationship with his parents was not supportive and so he was on his own from an early age. Langston got jobs working on ships because he wanted to travel but also the racism in the US in the 1920's meant that many jobs were closed to him. But jobs working on ships as part of a crew were easier to get.
In writing the Introduction to The Big Sea, Arnold Rampersad notes that there were three important events in Langston Hughes' life:
"The first is in Hughes’s boyhood, when, after waiting trustingly for Jesus to come to him at a religious revival, he fakes a conversion, then weeps far into the night in guilt and shame. The second, in his adolescence, and almost cheerfully advanced against a background of Mexican Technicolor, concerns Hughes’s brutal feelings for his father: “I hated my father.” The third involves Hughes’s banishment, when he was twenty-nine, by Mrs. Charlotte Mason who had generously supported him as a patron over the previous two years. Even in 1939, ten years afterwards, as he himself writes, Hughes cannot recall the exact moment of banishment without feeling sick".
The falling out between Langston Hughes and Charlotte Mason was a sad part of this book. Langston Hughes writes that he loved Mrs Mason. She wasn't just a patron but he thought of her as a friend. But she turned into a very controlling person who felt that she should be dictating what Hughes wrote. And finally when he suggested to Mrs. Mason that maybe it was best she no longer support him but that he still wanted very much to be her friend she said some terrible things which Langston doesn't go into (he doesn't name Mrs Mason in the book) but he was very hurt.
The Big Sea ends on a happy note with Langston Hughes looking towards the future and I will be interested in reading more of his poems which now that I have read his memoir will be even more meaningful.
I have never read anything by Langston Hughes but I feel like a should. This sounds like a good book, and I am glad you reviewed it here.
ReplyDeleteHis poetry is very good. I read The Weary Blues which I recommend.
DeleteI love Hughes' poetry! (Though, like you, I'm not a big poetry reader.) This memoir sounds amazing, and one that I'd like to read. Great review! :D
ReplyDeleteThanks Lark. Langston Hughes had so many experiences and travelled everyhere in his 20's and he published a second memoir in 1955: I Wonder As I Wander.
ReplyDeleteWow, what an interesting and busy life Hughes had. I have to confess that I'd not heard of him, mainly because I just don't read poetry I suspect. I have trouble understanding what I'm reading. Is his poetry easy to understand?
ReplyDeleteHis poems are very easy to understand and here is one he wrote about Helen Keller:
DeleteHelen Keller
She,
In the dark,
Found light
Brighter than many ever see.
She,
Within herself,
Found loveliness,
Through the soul's own mastery.
And now the world receives
From her dower:
The message of the strength
Of inner power.
Now 'that' I had no trouble understanding and it's beautiful!
DeleteI loved this book when I read it a few years ago--I really didn't know much about Hughes before I read it. I still need to read the sequel--he accomplished so much as a young man--I want the rest of the story!
ReplyDeleteHe accomplished so much and it was not easy for him. Hughes had to deal with racism, poverty, his parents weren't supportive but with his great talent and determination he is now a leading literary figure of the 20th century and still being read.
DeleteNicely reviewed Kathy! I have a copy of this too on my e-reader that I want to read sometime. I am a fan of Hughes' poetry, and his life story seems very notable. Interesting to hear he worked on ships ! -- I didn't know that. I'm also interested in his other later memoir? I need to get to that one too. His banishment by his parents & Mason sound really tough. No wonder he needed such heartfelt poetry.
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan, I am interested in his later memoir too I Wonder As I Wander. Both titles really show how he loved to travel. In addition to Mrs Mason Hughes had a prior patron. A wealthy woman who paid for his entire 4 year college tuition. He is very grateful to her and she put no strings on her gift. She just paid for his tuition and they went their separate ways. That's the way to do it.
ReplyDelete