Category Archives: Libraries

New James Baldwin letters

Posted on January 1, 2014 by wcd2

January 1, 2014 The 100 letters recently acquired by the Beinecke Library are not to famous people, just Baldwin’s friends. The letters to Painter began in 1954, when his play “The Amen Corner” opened at Howard, and came up to 1964, … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, Europe, Friendship, Libraries, Turkey, Twentieth century literature | Tagged Another Country, Beinecke Library, David Leeming, Ernest Hemingway, Eugene Lerner, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Invisible Man, Istanbul, James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Malcolm X, Martha Gellhorn, Martin Luther King, Mary Painter, Medgar Evers, No Name in the Street, Ralph Ellison, Rosa Parks, The Fire Next Time, The Panther and the Lash | Leave a comment

Writers getting old: Ashbery, Angelou, Morrison

Posted on November 13, 2013 by wcd2

November 13, 2013 I was standing at the very back, and saw only a wall of people in front. I’d also missed the introduction. For most of reading, all I got was the voice, surprisingly strong, vigorous, the voice … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, Contemporary novel, contemporary poetry, Friendship, Libraries, Literary awards | Tagged Beinecke Library, Furious Flower LIfetime Achievement Awards, John Ashbery, Maya Angelou, Rita Dove, Toni Morrison | Leave a comment

Jack Kerouac, Edwidge Danticat: Joual and Creole

Posted on October 10, 2012 by wcd2

October 10, 2012 The name on his birth certificate is Jean Louis Kirouac – that’s the most common spelling of the name in Quebec, which is where his parents were from. His father, Léon-Alcide, continued to work as a printer … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, Americas, Atlantic, Autobiography, Canada, Caribbean literature, Cities, Comparative literature, Contemporary novel, Creole, Diaspora, Ethnicity, Gender, Global South, Latin America, Libraries, Media, mexico, peripheral networks, print medium, Publishers, Radio, Twentieth century literature, Vernacular dialects | Tagged Creole, Edwidge Danticat, French, Gabriel Anctil, Haiti, Jack Kerouac, Joual, La Nuit est ma femme, Le Devoir, Lowell MA, New York Public Library, Québécois, Sur le chemin | 1 Comment

Spanish Civil War: Hughes and Hemingway

Posted on July 4, 2012 by wcd2

July 4, 2012 The Beinecke Library doesn’t have a great Hemingway Collection (most of his material is at the JFK Presidential Library in Boston), but I did find a rare photo, taken in Madrid in 1937, Hemingway with Langston Hughes, … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, African-American literature, Arabic, Caribbean literature, collaboration, Cuba, Cuban poetry, Ethnicity, Global South, Islam, Latin America, Letters, Libraries, Modernist poetry, Newspapers, peripheral networks, Spanish, Translation, Twentieth century literature, world literature | Tagged Baltimore Afro-American, Beinecke Library, Cuba Libre, Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bells Tolls, General Franco's Moors, Gypsies, Havana, JFK Presidential Library, Langston Hughes, Michael Koltyov, Moors, Nicolas Guillen, Oklahoma, Spanish Civil War | 2 Comments