That Kayo Chingonyi collection is new -- I hadn't known it. Hughes would approve! It is basically a reprint of the 1959 Selected Poems, which, when I teach it, I point out was put together by Hughes to survive the McCarthy era. None of his 1930s radical, incendiary, socialist, and revolutionary poems are there. "Christ in Alabama" isn't there. (That takes guts to teach.) Hughes had been subpoenaed to testify before McCarthy’s committee in 1953 gave pretty full testimony about everything, including denouncing his own poems written before and visiting the Soviet Union. So the 1959 collection is "safe" -- Hughes as folk lyricist and jazz poet. It worked of course. He is beloved today. Scrubbed clean.
Very odd. But there is no unpublished stuff by this point and if there were it would be headline news and not from a small press. Still people like to sell books! Anyway the important thing is that it is all safe Hughes not radical Hughes.
On reflection the opening note about its contents is perhaps ambiguous.. it's hard not to read it though i think as claiming that the volume includes previously unpublished stuff? It says: "This book contains a selection
of the poems of Langston Hughes chosen by himself from his earlier volumes:
THE WEARY BLUES
FINE CLOTHES TO THE JEW SHAKESPEARE IN HARLEM
FIELDS OF WONDER
ONE-WAY TICKET
MONTAGE OF A DREAM DEFERRED
and from the privately printed limited edition
DEAR LOVELY DEATH
together with a number of new poems published here for the first time in book form, some never before anywhere."
Odd also that the intro doesn't mention it. I think closest it gets is "It would be remiss of me here to brush past the quieter poems in Hughes's oeuvre, those that a volume such as this - reflecting the poems Hughes himself wished to preserve - brings into such sharp relief. I want, then, to offer my hand, dear reader, and take you for a walk around Langston's poems."
I must say your eclectic discoveries are so nourishing.
And you are right about the Heath article. Excellent.
Question though: how could Heath believe Cohen disinherited his Marxism and embraced liberalism. Is there written evidence or was he relying on dinner conversation?
In Why Not Socialism? (2009), Cohen gives up on the idea that we (currently) know a better way than markets to run large-scale economies. Also he just takes as given the principles of equal opportunity and community—rather than anything distinctively Marxist, e.g. about exploitation.
One of the longer treatments of Cohen you’ll find in Heath is Ch. 1 of *Cooperation and Social Justice*.
That Kayo Chingonyi collection is new -- I hadn't known it. Hughes would approve! It is basically a reprint of the 1959 Selected Poems, which, when I teach it, I point out was put together by Hughes to survive the McCarthy era. None of his 1930s radical, incendiary, socialist, and revolutionary poems are there. "Christ in Alabama" isn't there. (That takes guts to teach.) Hughes had been subpoenaed to testify before McCarthy’s committee in 1953 gave pretty full testimony about everything, including denouncing his own poems written before and visiting the Soviet Union. So the 1959 collection is "safe" -- Hughes as folk lyricist and jazz poet. It worked of course. He is beloved today. Scrubbed clean.
It says that on the back cover, I now see. But not inside! Rather, there is the note I just quoted, which points to the volume including new stuff..
sorry my replies have gotten in the wrong order! am copying these to below!
Very odd. But there is no unpublished stuff by this point and if there were it would be headline news and not from a small press. Still people like to sell books! Anyway the important thing is that it is all safe Hughes not radical Hughes.
On reflection the opening note about its contents is perhaps ambiguous.. it's hard not to read it though i think as claiming that the volume includes previously unpublished stuff? It says: "This book contains a selection
of the poems of Langston Hughes chosen by himself from his earlier volumes:
THE WEARY BLUES
FINE CLOTHES TO THE JEW SHAKESPEARE IN HARLEM
FIELDS OF WONDER
ONE-WAY TICKET
MONTAGE OF A DREAM DEFERRED
and from the privately printed limited edition
DEAR LOVELY DEATH
together with a number of new poems published here for the first time in book form, some never before anywhere."
Right — it explicitly says “This edition is Hughes's own selection of his work, and was first published in 1959.”
It says that on the back cover, I now see. But not inside! Rather, there is the note I just quoted, which points to the volume including new stuff..
Odd also that the intro doesn't mention it. I think closest it gets is "It would be remiss of me here to brush past the quieter poems in Hughes's oeuvre, those that a volume such as this - reflecting the poems Hughes himself wished to preserve - brings into such sharp relief. I want, then, to offer my hand, dear reader, and take you for a walk around Langston's poems."
He’s not a scholar not an American raised on Hughes. A good poet though.
I will write a footnote to my piece clarifying all this -- thanks Hollis! (One thing though -- I do think some of these poems are still radical!)
I am really enjoy my discovery here and -though now unpaid-could be convinced in the not so distant future to help line your pockets.
thank you! i have no plans to monetise this substack, but that's very kind!
I must say your eclectic discoveries are so nourishing.
And you are right about the Heath article. Excellent.
Question though: how could Heath believe Cohen disinherited his Marxism and embraced liberalism. Is there written evidence or was he relying on dinner conversation?
In Why Not Socialism? (2009), Cohen gives up on the idea that we (currently) know a better way than markets to run large-scale economies. Also he just takes as given the principles of equal opportunity and community—rather than anything distinctively Marxist, e.g. about exploitation.
One of the longer treatments of Cohen you’ll find in Heath is Ch. 1 of *Cooperation and Social Justice*.
This is very helpful I will read both suggestions.
Found Cohen:
http://tankona.free.fr/cohen2009.pdf
Have a wonderful new year, may you and those you love (even those you don’t) be happy, healthy and safe.