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The Big Sea
Introduction by Arnold Rampersad.
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...more
Paperback, 356 pages
Published
August 1st 1993
by Hill and Wang
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His life seemed pretty interesting but it bored me to read the way he wrote about it. Especially when he started name dropping during the Harlem Renaissance. It seems that he can give me no idea what was so good about it. I've always wondered what the story behind the rift between him and Zora Neale Hurston was, and still, I feel like he was evading the issue with vagueness and subtle misogyny. Actually, he was pretty vague on just about everything in his life. One of his reviewers wrote: "...more
4-8-09
Finally decided to do my final essay for my Masters on the man I've idolized since I was 13. I don't know what took me so long.
Anyway, just like his "Jesse B. Semple" short articles that showed the word the simplistic injustices through an "everyman's" everyman, Hughes writes his autobiography in the plainest of terms, yet, like Simple, extremely poignant, funny and painful.
I've only just begun my journeys through the halls of another write...more
Finally decided to do my final essay for my Masters on the man I've idolized since I was 13. I don't know what took me so long.
Anyway, just like his "Jesse B. Semple" short articles that showed the word the simplistic injustices through an "everyman's" everyman, Hughes writes his autobiography in the plainest of terms, yet, like Simple, extremely poignant, funny and painful.
I've only just begun my journeys through the halls of another write...more
I picked this up because I was curious what he had to report about Paris and Harlem in the 1920s. I really enjoyed this book. Of course its quite a bit more about Langston Hughes himself than about Paris or New York. Part of the pleasure is Hughes prose style here, which is by turns, economical, understated, frank and humorous. While he clearly has a quiet studious side (early on he gets a job on a ship anchored in the middle of the Hudson River where, isolated, he read books for months), his l...more
Langston Hughes' autobiography from youth through his first successes as a writer. One of my favorite books. Told in first person in a conversational and unassuming manner, Hughes recounts how his early adult experiences shape his view of the world. He comes to terms with his clinging mother and his businessman father, who lives in Mexico and hates his own race. He works on a ship, experiencing casual racism and traveling to Europe and Africa. Finally, he settles in Harlem during the so-called H...more
I don't want this autobiography to end. I wish I could write like Langston Hughes. This autobiography tells of his earlier years and his far travels. it is especially wonderful in how it talks about the cities he has lived in and the people he met. It makes the black world of the 1920s come alive. I feel like it was a travelogue of where to stay and what to do of that time. An absolutely dazzling book!
Quotes:
From the last page:
"Literature is a big sea full of many fish....more
Quotes:
From the last page:
"Literature is a big sea full of many fish....more
I am not sure how I feel about this book or Langston Hughes. There were many times during the book where I really did not like him. I have wanted to learn more about him after reading a short story he wrote during his time in Paris. This is a man who was not the average African American. He had a lot of opportunities most did not have--his father being wealthy and living in Mexico. When he turned down his dad's offer to go to Switzerland and learn languages, I thought he was crazy. He was n...more
From the time I was a little boy I knew of Langston Hughes. He was respected...he was almost 'revered'.
I didn't really know a lot about Langston, just that he was big during the Harlem Renaissance.
I remember reading a poem of his 'A Dream Deferred' as a child. It really stuck to me. I remember grabbing a piece of notebook paper and copying it down. Of course I had to add my non-artistic drawings to it in color, including clouds and trees and stars...I wish I had that piece of paper s...more
I didn't really know a lot about Langston, just that he was big during the Harlem Renaissance.
I remember reading a poem of his 'A Dream Deferred' as a child. It really stuck to me. I remember grabbing a piece of notebook paper and copying it down. Of course I had to add my non-artistic drawings to it in color, including clouds and trees and stars...I wish I had that piece of paper s...more
Hughes's prose style has the deceptively simple feel of his poetry. He moves quickly through the first several decades of his life, and though his writing sometimes feels careless or excessively brief, at other points his language suggests a carefully constructed narrative designed to invoke ideas or aesthetically reactions rather than state them explicitly.
The only book I read in college that I actually could say I loved. I was so intrigued and impressed by the life of Langston Hughes. He was so adventurous and confident and I admired that about him. This is a rich story about the life of a man who created his own destiny. Inspirational.
I really liked this book. The first part of the book told a great deal about his life before he was an accomplished writer and that was the most interesting part of the book for me. Although I did like getting some insight into the ZNH relationship also. I think anyone who is a fan of LH will really like the book..very easy to read. I have read some reviews that are critical of the "vagueness"..I attribute that to his being a gentleman, and being respectful of others.
It is one thing to be interested in an author or artist because you admire their work...but to find an interesting life is a whole other thing.
This is an autobiography of one of the best known African American poets, a man who celebrated being black.
Poetry in a book. Fantastic writing with a very engaging story. I would highly recommend this.
Holy hell, this was perhaps the most dry autobiography I've ever attempted reading. Granted, that one star isnt exactly fair, for I could not get very far before setting this book aside and burying it at the back of my collection. It's just... I wish Hughes had spent more time on how he felt about his experiences in life, rather than simply placing them in chronological order. His life read as a time-line, rather than something worth reading.
I was disappointed not by the writing in the book. It was good. Not by the story. It was good as well. I was disappointed because such a talented poet spoke of writing poems as if it were painting a house. He speaks so matter of factly about the process. (I needed money, I wrote some poems, everybody loved them, I won some awards, I took out the trash.) Don't get me wrong the writing is a lot more complelling than my re-creation of it, but he doesn't speak of writing poetry as a beautiful...more
Read this in my Harlem Renaissance course in college, and it still sticks with me (umpteen years later). The life story of one of my favorite poets.
He's an oddly flat narrator of his own story, which makes it a little hard to relate.
This was the title mention during Little Bill!
This is my all-time most favorite book in the world. If I had to describe it in one word it would be elegant, or as the french say élégant. If I were Oprah, which I am often confused for, it would be my The Color Purple, and I would carry multiple copies of it around with me in a backpack and distribute it to people I meet on the streets of Chicago - whilst working my way up the ladder that is "journalism". But since I am not, I will just say - hey you should TOTALLY read this becau...more
One of my favorite books. Great tales of wunderlust through a poets eyes.
Langston Hughes wrote an autobiography of his life. This book is the first half of his life. I learned so much about him that I did not know such as his time in the military traveling to Africa. His time at Lincoln University (a black college in Pennsylvania) and his time at Columbia University. He never goes into this personal relationships but his views from public transportation to his views on the every day rituals.
I love Langston Hughes!
I love Langston Hughes!
Very enjoyable and interesting.
Hughes autobiographic book is considered one of the best books about the Harlem Renaissance. I’m glad it’s the one I read. Hughes, as in all his writing, creates tastes, scents, and textures that bring a moment or a period to life. As a lover of books that evoke images in my mind, I savored this book like a bottle of wine. Luckily, unlike an emptied bottle of wine, I can pour this one over and over!
This is one of my favorite books of all time. Langston Hughes had a remarkable life, and reading about it in his own unmistakeable prose is truly a treat for the soul. Pick this up and his other autobiographical masterpiece, I Wonder As I Wander.
Not much of a "true story" fan, this book is amazing...Langston Hughes tells a very interesting story of his life, travels, struggles, and success. Well written and fun to read.
love his voice in this, though i get tired of the laundry list of famous rich people he sees at parties. pretty scary observations about sailors' lives.
This amazing poet traveled to the Soviet Union in its infancy and to Spain during the Spanish Civil War. A life well worth reading about.
What a fascinating life Langston Hughes lived! You must read about this famous poet's life to understand his experience.
early autobiography on Langston Hughes....learns the difference between color and race on a trip to Africa...
Compelling biography of a two part testament to the life of Langston Hughes.
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Langston Hughes was an American poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer, and columnist. Hughes is known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance.
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