The Big Sea
An Autobiography
Farrar Straus & Giroux · Print & ebook · August 1, 1993
"This book is the chronicle of a bright and lively artistic ear that brought the African-American people full into the twentieth century.
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- Who it’s for
- Hughes’s direct memoir brings the artistic currents of 1920s Harlem and Paris within reach.
- Themes
- Autobiography, Harlem Renaissance, 1920s Paris nightlife
- Genres
- Black & African American Lives, Writers' Lives, Black History
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For younger readers: There Was a Party for Langston, Who Was Langston Hughes?, Bad Boy
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Start with this bookAbout this book
"This book is the chronicle of a bright and lively artistic ear that brought the African-American people full into the twentieth century. It is a wonderful book!” —Amiri Baraka In his incisive introduction to The Big Sea, an American classic, Arnold Rampersad writes: "This is American writing at its best--simpler than Hemingway; as simple and direct as that of another Missouri-born writer...Mark Twain." Langston Hughes, born in 1902, came of age early in the 1920s.
Continue reading
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 of the "Harlem Renaissance."
A Poet’s Ear
Hughes’s direct memoir brings the artistic currents of 1920s Harlem and Paris within reach.
Come here for
- A personal view of the Harlem Renaissance from a rising young poet
- The vivid contrast between Harlem and Paris in the 1920s
Expect
- An autobiographical perspective on the decade’s artistic life
- A direct, reflective account of coming of age
Where it sits
| Writers' Lives | 85% |
|---|---|
| Black & African American Lives | 58% |
| Black History | 53% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Black & African American Lives
- African American Studies
- Authors
- Langston Hughes
- Publisher
- Farrar Straus & Giroux
- Published
- August 1, 1993
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Autobiography · Harlem Renaissance · 1920s Paris nightlife
- Reading lane
- Black & African American Lives