Title

Remember me to Harlem : the letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten, 1925-1964

Description

An edited collection of letters between Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten, 1925-1964.

Identifier

934091

679451137

Creator

Hughes, Langston

Format

1st ed.

Contributor

Van Vechten, Carl

Bernard, Emily

Source

Brian Lamb Booknotes Collection

Gift of Brian Lamb, 2011.

Catalog record

Language

eng

Date

2001

Program air date: April 22, 2001.

Publisher

Knopf

George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives

Subject

"Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967--Correspondence."

"Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964--Correspondence."

"Novelists, American--20th century--Correspondence."

"Authors, American--20th century--Correspondence."

"Music critics--United States--Correspondence."

"Photographers--United States--Correspondence."

"African American authors--Correspondence."

"Harlem Renaissance."

Relation

Original Booknotes interview

Rights

This work may be protected by copyright laws and is provided for educational and research purposes only. Any infringing use may be subject to disciplinary action and/or civil or criminal liability as provided by law. If you believe that you are the rights-holder and object to Mason’s use of this image, please contact speccoll@gmu.edu.

Text

Transcription of Annotations
Notes on front endpapers and fly leaf: "Mon., March 12, 2 p.m. - Harlem Renaissance, Geo. Gershwin, W.E.B. Du Bois; 'Crisis'. - Ralph Ellison did not like Van V. (p. 273). - 1953: Hughes called to testify before McCarthy. - Carlo - didn't like "sincerely". - My girlfriend at the moment is Sylvia Chen, p. 102. - Scottsboro: Charlotte Mason dismisses him, May 26, 1930; p. 234. - 1500 letters; Hughes, b. 1902 [in] Joplin, Mo., d. May 22, 1967; Lincoln U., PA. - Hated his father; "Fine clothes to the Jew", busboy at Wardman Park. - Van Vechten, b. 1880 Cedar Rapids, d. Dec. 21, 1965; U. of Chicago; "Nigger Heaven", married 40 yrs to Fania Marinoff; two met Nov. 10, 1924. - Du Bois: scathing review of Van Vechten; V.V. gay - many lovers - no proof that Hughes was gay. - James Weldon Johnson killed in 1938; "a book about friendship". - For L.H. "The Weary Blues" intro to Van Vechten. - Zora's tantrums, p. 209. - Black/white dancing at Canteen, p. 211. - p. 215: Draft notice, statement on Jim Crow in the service footnote. - p. 218: Harlem riot: police (white) kills black (footnote). - p. 103: Good Morning Revolution - renamed "A New Song" - Waldorf poem (1933) - V.V. doesn't like it. - p. 111: Maxim Lieber - Hughes' agent - a communist spy." -- Notes on half title page: "p. 237: Anderson, Ind.; cullud; Chi. Trib. - out to get L.H. for communism (1948), has to cancel 3 events in Ill., p. 252. - 1943: Would [?] the rest of his life with Aunt Toy on Nicholas Avenue. - Emily, what's your reaction to reading that some future historian will get a lot out of L.H.'s collection at Yale? - Carlo - says collection is in good order because of "my energy and foresight", p. 222. - 1941: Soviet Union - [?] up, p. 178; Goodbye Christ defence. - Gonorrhea from L.A. - Natasha, "the Moscow lady", 1939 - the two shared a bed at end of Moscow stay, p. 161. - "Joke", p. 165. - Why did he have some trouble with money? - Hughes' patron: Charlotte Mason; Zora's tantrum, p. 209; Noel Sullivan; Goodbye Christ, p. 178; Russia; Schomberg, Rosenwald, Sears. - 1933: Pres. FDR denounced lynching, p. 113. - "Mule bone" - Nora Neale Thurston. - Scottsboro, Ala. - 9 men dragged off a train, accusing them of raping 2 white women. - 1931: social profiling - cab dent, p. 79." -- Notes on title page: "Hughes: where did he live - Russia, Cuba, Haiti, Carmel, Cleveland, Chicago, Mexico. - V.V. photographs. - Arthur Spingarn. - Hughes' agent: Maxim Lieber - a socialist, later identified as an undercover operative of Communist Party, p. 111. - Weary Blues, Mule bone, Nigger Heaven. - John Reed - a great friend of V.V., p. 108. - John Reed Club in Carmel; Sunday night lecture; V.V. didn't agree with L.H. on Waldorf Astoria, p. 104, 105, 106." -- Annotations by Brian Lamb in the margins and underlining of pertinent phrases throughout the book. - Examples: p. xvi: "Because art had the potential to liberate black people from social bondage." - p. xxi: "What they saw in Van Vechten was more than a useful contact; he was a fellow champion of free expression in black arts and culture." - p. 80: "Your arrest was absolutely fabulous, but I think you might raise an awful stink about it and get some money both from the taxi company and the city." - p. 127: "1934-35: tour - Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas." - p. 139: "This summer I have a job for the first time in many years: conducting a tour to the Soviet Union for Edutravel, with the accent on the study of National Minorities." - p. 154: "You can't be that careless about facts and spellings and dates in an autobiography without convincing the reader the whole thing is phoney." - p. 304: "For the past ten years I have devoted at least fifty per cent of my waking hours to this perpetuation of the fame of the Negro and it saddens me to realize how few Negroes realize this and how still fewer make any attempt to assist the collection."