| The Negro renaissance of the twenties and thirties, later named the Harlem Renaissance, occurred between 1917 and 1935. Characterized by a watershed of literary and artistic activity, it was known also for its rich polemic on the role of literature in the civil rights' struggle, and on what kind of representation would best serve those goals. This polemic arose from the competing ideologies of various leaders who expressed their political aesthetic in the journals with which they were associated: W. E. B. Du Bois, editor of The Crisis (1910); A. P. Randolph and Chandler Owen, co-editors of the Messenger (1917); and Marcus Garvey, co-editor of Negro World (1918) along with his wife Amy; and Charles S. Johnson, editor of Opportunity (1923).;These four journals participated in the publication of literature and the promotion of the renaissance. Journal editors, publishers, contributors and their readership formed part of the institutional network that supported the literary movement, while factions and their rivalry molded the literary debates. In this political, ideological and competitive atmosphere, the younger artists edited Fire!! Devoted to Younger Negro Artists and struggled to free themselves from the editorial control of the leaders, patrons and publishers.;In my first three chapters, I examine the period before Fire!! and the events that fueled the discontent, and sealed the rebellion of the younger Negro artists. Chapter Four examines Fire!! 's contents and its reception by the Harlem community. In Chapters Five and Six, I analyze the writings of Thurman, Hurston and Hughes. By analyzing their works in the specificity of their historical context, and using the methodology of Foucault, I identify the ways in which each author's work points to larger literary trends. In Chapter Five, I pay particular attention to the motif of the journey as a journey to the artistic self, and in Chapter Six, I explore the works in which each author remembers the renaissance. |
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