New World Maker Volume 40: Radical Poetics, Black Internationalism, and the Translations of Langston Hughes

In his book "New World Maker," Ryan James Kernan explores Langston Hughes' political poetry in the context of his practice of translation, revealing an important meditation on diaspora. Kernan argues that Hughes' engagements with various poets and translations shaped his radical poetics, addressing Black left internationalist concerns. He follows Hughes from Harlem to Havana, Moscow, Madrid, and Dakar, demonstrating how his identity and aesthetic were translated within these leftist geographies and metropoles. The book recuperates Hughes' political writing and affirms his place as a progenitor of African diasporic literature and a significant figure in US modernism.

Format: Hardback
Length: 432 pages
Publication date: 15 July 2022
Publisher: Northwestern University Press

In a groundbreaking reevaluation of Langston Hughes' work and legacy, Ryan James Kernan delves into the political poetry of Hughes, placing it within the context of his practice of translation. By uncovering previously undiscovered archival evidence, Kernan demonstrates how Hughes drew upon his engagements with the poetics of various writers, including Louis Aragon, Nicolás Guillén, Regino Pedroso, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Federico García Lorca, and Léopold Sédar Senghor, as well as his own translations, to forge a radical poetics that addressed Black left internationalist concerns.

As Kernan traces Hughes' journey from Harlem to Havana, Moscow, Madrid, and finally Dakar, he reveals how the writer's identity and aesthetic were translated within these leftist geographies and metropoles, both by others and collaboratively. Kernan argues that to fully understand Hughes, we must engage with his work in translation.

New World Maker reclaims Hughes' political writing, which had been unfairly criticized by Cold War detractors and New Criticism adherents, and establishes his rightful place as a pioneer of African diasporic literature and a significant figure within the realm of US modernists. By highlighting the crucial role of translation in Hughes' creative process, this book challenges prevailing assumptions about this canonical thinker and provides valuable insights for scholars of African diasporic literature, comparative literature, and American, Caribbean, and translation studies.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780810144439