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Langston Hughes Folk Dramatist in the Protest Tradition, 1921-1943
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Joseph McLaren
Foreword by Beth Turner
Afterword by James V. Hatch
Book Code: GM8719
ISBN: 0-313-28719-8
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-28719-0
248 pages, photographs
Greenwood Press
Publication: 12/30/1997
List Price: $119.95 (UK Sterling Price: £70.00)
Availability: Out of stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Also Available: Ebook
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Series Title: Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies
Series Number: 181
Description: Though known primarily as a poet, Langston Hughes crafted well over 40 theatrical works. This book examines Hughes's stage pieces from his first published play, The Gold Piece (1921), through his post-radical wartime effort, For This We Fight (1943). Hughes's plays of this period reflect the influence of folk drama, Russian constructivist theatre, and black history. The Broadway run of Mulatto (1935), a tragic protest melodrama, earned Hughes national recognition. McLaren demonstrates that Hughes's folk comedies, such as Mule Bone (1930) and Little Ham (1936), valorize folk humor and black vernacular. Written in collaboration with Zora Neale Hurston, Mule Bone resulted in a literary controversy. The study also analyzes Hughes's radical plays, including Scottsboro Limited (1931) and Don't You Want to Be Free? (1938), which blend poetry and drama. Also addressed is Hughes's association with community drama groups, especially Karamu Theatre in Cleveland and the Harlem Suitcase Theatre, which premiered Don't You Want to Be Free? and a number of Hughes's satires.

In the early 1940s, Hughes entered his post-radical period but continued to protest fascism and celebrate black heroes and heroines. This transition is reflected in his critique of Richard Wright's Native Son. McLaren concludes that the "democratic" argument is used to challenge segregation in the military and that Hughes's iconography prefigures the black aesthetic of the 1960s. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of radical theatre and African American drama. Photographs complement the text.
Table of Contents:
  • Foreword by Beth Turner
  • Introduction
  • Folk Comedy in Collaboration: The Mule Bone Affair
  • Radical Drama and the Black Community
  • The Tragic Mode: Mulatto
  • The Gilpin Players and the Karamu Comedies
  • The Karamu Tragedies
  • The Harlem Suitcase Theatre
  • Community Theatre, Black Iconography, and World War II
  • Conclusion
  • Afterword by James V. Hatch
  • Bibliography
  • Index
LC Card Number: 95-48416
LCC Class: PS3515
Dewey Class: 812
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