Harlem Mosaics
by Whit Frazier
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Pub Date 6 May 2021 | Archive Date 24 Nov 2024
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Description
The year is 1927, and Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes are feverish with youth, gin, and artistic ambition. They are riding high on the achievements of the Harlem Renaissance-the most dynamic and shocking literary movement in American history. To make their mark on the world, they decide to write an authentic African American opera rooted in the folktales and songs of the South.
Despite these lofty ambitions, the messiness of everyday life and the pressures of patronage get in the way. The blues opera Hughes and Hurston work so hard on never materializes. At first it's simply reduced to a play. Then its very ownership is brought into dispute. Eventually Hughes and Hurston's friendship comes to a final and irreparable end.
Through all their arguments, love affairs, discussions and diversions, the characters work to create a new modernism that is both accessible and relevant to contemporary Black life, and to the generations of readers and writers, artists and poets, both Black and white, to follow.
Harlem Mosaics is a fictional reimagining of true events. In lyrical prose that evokes the heady 1920's, it tells a story that reads as a cautionary tale, a love story, and a social novel, reintroducing us to these brilliant and important artists. The novel includes an introduction by Marc Primus, of the Afro-American Folkloric Troupe, who knew and produced the works of both Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston.
Advance Praise
"Frazier’s witty, fresh fictionalization of the Harlem Renaissance, told from the points of view of Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, is a delight. Readers follow Hughes and Hurston in New York and across the U.S. as they work on a folktale-based African-American opera together. The opera eventually becomes their controversial play, Mule Bone, and the process of writing it ruins their friendship. The conversations between the two—and among all characters—are superbly imagined (“A lie’s a story, silly. Of course my lie’ll be true. Listen.”) Frazier (Robert Johnson’s Freewheeling Jazz Funeral) brings to life important figures from the era—Bessie Smith, Thurgood Marshall, and Wallace Thurman—convincingly capturing their mannerisms and points of view, particularly on race-related issues. Minor irritations do arise, mostly in the form of awkward phrasings, but the missteps all but disappear in light of frequently superlative prose that can be sweet, piquant, gritty, and poetic (“Slim’s voice was lazy, a round plum, a sound so ripe you could taste it”). This informative, thoughtful novel is a page-turning tour of a singular piece of America’s past." --- Publisher's Weekly (https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4792-1302-3)
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9781737214915 |
| PRICE | US$0.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 250 |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Reviewer 1376114
This is a poetic novel about the friendship of Zora Neal Hurston and Langston Hughes, who decide to collaborate on a blues opera. In this story they are both in their early 20's living in NYC in the 1920's. The author does a fantastic job with the dialogue and the imagery of the setting. In several scenes it felt like I was sitting in a chair witnessing the genius of Zora and Langston first hand. I felt like I was breathing the same air as them and laughing along with them as they teased each other with their quick wit. This book was an absolute delight to read from start to finish, I can't recommend it enough.
Chyanne A, Reviewer
If you’ve ever read ‘Zora and Langstom’ by Yuval Taylor, you will get factual information about the lives of Zora and Langston as well as the Godmother and everyone else in their social circle. This book was like a fictional version of Zora and Langston’s relationship, thinking about what their conversations were like when they were friends. Since I am familiar with their history, I just skimmed through the book. But if you like Zora and Langston, this could be a good book for you.
Reviewer 1261820
LOVE LOVE LOVE. Such a great book. Captured the vibe of this period of history so well. Fell in love with writing too. Fantastic.
Kate V, Reviewer
I became fascinated by the Harlem Renaissance after reading Nella Larsen's Passing a couple of years ago. Harlem Mosaics features two other key figures, Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, and the story of their on-off collaboration on a blues opera. They're fascinating characters because of their contrasting temperaments and different interests - Zora is a driven researcher and anthropologist, as well as a storyteller, Langston a drifting poet getting by largely on charm.
I like the way the story seamlessly integrates their daily lives, the parties, the gossip, their friendships and rivalries among other real-life authors of the time, with their reflections on their position as politically engaged Black artists. Their patronage from a ghastly wealthy white woman, and the way she exploits her power over them, is also vividly (and with dry humour) portrayed.
Harlem Mosaics captures the perspectives of some of the key figures of the Harlem Renaissance in atmospheric, evocative prose.
Phyllis R, Reviewer
“You’re an odd one, Zora, but I’m sure gonna miss you when you’re down south.”
“Well you need to come join me. Will you?”
“That’s the plan.”
As the publisher’s blurb indicates, this is an imagined tale steeped in actual events between two infamous Harlem Renaissance writers: Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes and their collaborative attempt to compose an opera/play. Any fan of the two knows the outcome was not fruitful and the friendship dissipated and sadly never rekindled.
Fans of the two authors will enjoy the story-within-the-story, the interplay between the two greats, along with a sprinkling of colorful personalities like Charles S. Johnson, Countee Cullen, Wallace Thurman, and others immerses the reader into the era and the issues and politics of the day. Their banter amongst themselves bring forth topics of sexual orientation and preferences, competition from White/Other playwrights profiting on Black culture (think of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess), and white patronage. Other infamous thoughts, ideals and philosophies from noted scholars (Locke, DuBois, etc) are mentioned in the passages to expose their influence on the work of the era’s writers. The dialogue, pacing, and place setting is spot on – When Zora speaks, it mimics her folksy, down-to-earth, no-holds-barred (dare I say brash) Southern vernacular and Langston’s views are similarly expressed in his more refined, pointed, repressed style.
Recommended for Harlem Renaissance fans and those who want to briefly glimpse into the lives of two literary giants.
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