Delano Greenidge-copprue

At the Crossroads: Hughes, Wright, and Ellison on American Culture Delano Greenidge-copprue

In the landscape of African-American literature, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, and Ralph Ellisonform a powerful trinity offering sustainedcritiques of American culture on a range of levels --socially, artistically, and psychically. One of theprincipal writers of the Harlem Renaissance, LangstonHughes was virtuosic in his literary craft, and oneof his more powerful works -- Father and Son" --remains a landmark meditation on the alienationfacing African-Americans on American soil. Buildingupon the mature work of Hughes Richard Wrightreveals a nation of the bitter dream in his 1945autobiography where a young black boy must come toterms with an education that is as violent as it isliberating. And Ralph Ellison whose 1952 novelremains of one the classic achievements in all modernliterature offers "existential equipment for living"at the crossroads of American culture. In all thisbook is a "blues-shaped" study of three of the mostimportant African-American artists who wrote withinthe conflicted and conflicting American context."