Nigger Heaven

Published in October 1926, this novel by Carl Van Vechten takes place during the 1920s Harlem Renaissance. It opens with a prologue about Scarlet Creeper, a violent pimp. The story is divided into two novellas. The first focuses on Mary Love, a librarian captivated by the diverse cultures and hierarchies of Harlem but uncertain of her place. She engages in a brief relationship with writer Byron Kasson, discussing literature and art. The second novella explores Byron's resentment towards New York's segregation. After his involvement with Mary, he embarks on a wild journey with a debauched socialite in Harlem. The socialite leaves him, reinforcing his negative perception of society. The novel concludes with a violent encounter between Scarlet and Byron.

Few contemporary writers share the remarkable talent of Terence E.Jackson. - A talent for telling a story with brightly -lit realism, for depicting characters with extraordinary sharpness and insight, and for inciting his readers to agree or disagree with his viewpoint. Mr. Jackson has indeed done what many of his peers have failed to do. That is restore the African-American novel to it's rightful place. Like a bullet being fired from a gun, Nigger's Heaven grabs hold from the first page and never lets go. Nigger's Heaven is a story all readers will want to know and that none will ever forget.

Wallace Thurman (1902-1934) played a pivotal role in creating and defining the Harlem Renaissance. Thurman's complicated life as a black writer is described here for the first time: from his birth in Salt Lake City, Utah; through his quixotic and spotty education; to his arrival and residence in New York City at the height of the New Negro Movement in Harlem. Seen as it often is through the life of Langston Hughes, the Harlem Renaissance is celebrated as a highly successful Afro-centrist achievement. Seen from Thurman's perspective, as set against the historical and cultural background of the Jazz Age, the accomplishments of the Harlem Renaissance appear more qualified and more equivocal. In Thurman's view the Harlem Renaissance's failure to live up to its initial promise resulted from an ideological underpinning which was overwhelmingly concerned with race. He felt that the movement's self-consciousness and faddism compromised the aesthetic standards of many of its writers and artists, including his own.

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This 2007 Companion is a comprehensive guide to the key authors and works of the African American literary movement.

From the music of Louis Armstrong to the portraits by Beauford Delaney, the writings of Langston Hughes to the debut of the musical Show Boat, the Harlem Renaissance is one of the most significant developments in African-American history in the twentieth century. The Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance, in two-volumes and over 635 entries, is the first comprehensive compilation of information on all aspects of this creative, dynamic period. For a full list of entries, contributors, and more, visit the Encyclopedi a of Harlem Renaissance website.