Modernism in Harlem Renaissance Literature
Modernism in Harlem Renaissance Literature
Modernism is one of those things that English teachers and professors go ga-ga over. (No, not that Gaga.) Why? Because it's the perfect example of a writing style that's both accessible and inaccessible at the same time.
Allow us to explain. It's hard to find a work shorter or simpler than William Carlos Williams' "The Red Wheelbarrow." But some scholars have devoted their whole careers trying to unearth the deeper meanings of this poem.
In other words, anyone can probably read modernist stuff. However, it can be super hard to understand the depth and scope of these pieces.
You could think about modernist poems as being like pictures. You know, those things you post to and heart on Instagram. Modernist writers tried to capture a moment in time just like that—as if the moment could be understood with a single image.
So what does all of this Modernism business have to do with the Harlem Renaissance? After all, weren't the Harlem Renaissance peeps all about jazz, parties, and uniquely black art?
Well sure, maybe those things were a part of the Harlem Renaissance, but they definitely weren't the whole thing. First and foremost, these Harlem Renaissance writers were artists and that meant they used whatever was around them to flex those artistic muscles.
Modernism just happened to be available as an artistic style and philosophy that made these artists' proverbial muscles look huge in the gym mirror.
Now, don't get us wrong: we're not saying that the Harlem Renaissance was just some clone of the modernist movement. The Harlem Renaissance definitely had its own thing going on. It's just that some of the movement's writers were inspired by the other major literary styles of the time.
This process of inspiration and artistic borrowing is what academics like to call intertextuality. What's that? When two different texts or set of texts influence each other. Okay, so we're not being super helpful here. Allow us to remind you that pretty much any cultural object—or anything really at all—can be a text.
Which means that intertextuality actually happens all the time. Like when Miley Cyrus paired up with Snoop Dogg for a song. And of course, fans weren't expecting this former child star to collab with a famous rapper. So intertextuality can breathe new life into well-defined artists or artistic styles.
We guess modernism can be sort of refreshing. Don't you think?
Chew on This:
You can't get more modernist than Jean Toomer's "Portrait in Georgia," an itty-bitty thing that packs a serious imagistic wallop.
Still wondering about that link between Harlem Renaissance writers and modernist writers? Well, Ralph Ellison, one of the major Harlem Renaissance novelists, was all about reading major modernist writers. Like T.S. Eliot, for example. We're pretty sure that if you read Ellison's Invisible Man, you could hunt down some of his modernist leanings without even trying.