Carl Van Vechten's Books

Remember Me to Harlem

The Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten

By: Langston Hughes,Carl Van Vechten

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Remember Me to Harlem

The Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten

By: Langston Hughes,Carl Van Vechten

Langston Hughes is widely remembered as a celebrated star of the Harlem Renaissance -- a writer whose bluesy, lyrical poems and novels still have broad appeal. What's less well known about Hughes is that for much of his life he maintained a friendship with Carl Van Vechten, a flamboyant white critic, writer, and photographer whose ardent support of black artists was peerless. Despite their differences — Van Vechten was forty-four to Hughes twenty-two when they met–Hughes’ and Van Vechten’s shared interest in black culture lead to a deeply-felt, if unconventional friendship that would span some forty years. Between them they knew everyone — from Zora Neale Hurston to Richard Wright, and their letters, lovingly and expertly collected here for the first time, are filled with gossip about the antics of the great and the forgotten, as well as with talk that ranged from race relations to blues lyrics to the nightspots of Harlem, which they both loved to prowl. It’s a correspondence that, as Emily Bernard notes in her introduction, provides “an unusual record of entertainment, politics, and culture as seen through the eyes of two fascinating and irreverent men.

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Page Count

402

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307427447

ISBN 13

9780307427441

Nigger Heaven

By: Carl Van Vechten

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Nigger Heaven

By: Carl Van Vechten

A controversial novel about the Black community in Harlem during the 1920s, criticized for its depiction of immorality and racist characterization of Black people.

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Page Count

336

Publisher

University of Illinois Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0252068602

ISBN 13

9780252068607

Firecrackers

A Realistic Novel

By: Carl Van Vechten

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Firecrackers

A Realistic Novel

By: Carl Van Vechten

Firecrackers: A Realistic Novel (1925) is a novel by Carl Van Vechten. Published in the same year as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Anita Loos’ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Van Vechten’s novel has been recognized as an important document of the Jazz Age, a decade of bohemian excess and artistic experimentation that changed the shape of American and European culture. “You must think of a group of people in terms of a packet of firecrackers. You ignite the first cracker and the flash fires the fuse of the second, and so on, until, after a series of crackling detonations, the whole bunch has exploded, and nothing survives but a few torn and scattered bits of paper, blackened with powder.” In Van Vechten’s novel, an explosive group of friends welcomes a handsome young man into their midst. Gunnar O’Grady, an athlete and a jack of all trades, soon becomes an object of obsession for men and women alike. As he tries to satisfy their needs and desires while working to support himself, he begins to question the meaning of friendship itself. Firecrackers: A Realistic Novel, Van Vechten’s fourth novel, is a fascinating work of fiction from a man who was always one step ahead of the rest. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Carl Van Vechten’s Firecrackers: A Realistic Novel is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Page Count

118

Publisher

Graphic Arts Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1513287303

ISBN 13

9781513287300

Peter Whiffle

By: Carl Van Vechten

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Peter Whiffle

By: Carl Van Vechten

Peter Whiffle (1922) is a novel by Carl Van Vechten. Framing himself as his character’s literary executor, Van Vechten provides a satirical self portrait of his unusual life in the arts through the lens of a man whose sole gift is to identify and move with the avant-garde. Peter Whiffle is a writer who never writes. Throughout his travels, he claims to be researching for an important work of literature but mostly provides humorous portraits of some of the greatest artists, dancers, and writers of his time. In this way, he proves himself much more of a mirror than a window—like Van Vechten likely sensed of his own writing, Whiffle is a man who reflects the success and genius of others much more than he offers his own. Travelling between New York City and Europe, Whiffle becomes a figure who defines his generation through keen wit and tongue-in-cheek wisdom, a tour guide to a vast land of cultural creation and bohemian excess. Peter Whiffle, Van Vechten’s debut novel, is a fascinating work of fiction from a man who was always one step ahead of the rest. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Carl Van Vechten’s Peter Whiffle is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Page Count

117

Publisher

Graphic Arts Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1513287281

ISBN 13

9781513287287

Extravagant Crowd

Carl Van Vechten's Portraits of Women

By: Nancy Kuhl,Carl Van Vechten

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Extravagant Crowd

Carl Van Vechten's Portraits of Women

By: Nancy Kuhl,Carl Van Vechten

Extravagant Crowd: Carl Van Vechten's Portraits of Women, the catalog for a Beinecke Library exhibition of the same name, includes photographs of about 85 women of achievement photographed by Van Vechten between 1932-1964; each photograph is accompanied by a short biography of the subject. The women include some of the best known of Van Vechten's subjects--Gertrude Stein, Billie Holiday, Zora Neale Hurston, and Marianne Moore to name a few--and some now-forgotten women who made significant contributions to the Broadway theater community, the Harlem Renaissance, the early Hollywood film industry, and the 1920s and '30s expatriate communities in Paris and London. The group includes performers of all kinds, writers, journalists, salon hostesses, artists, photographers, social activists, etc. The catalog includes an introduction by Bruce Kellner, a leading Harlem Renaissance scholar and the executor of Van Vechten's estate.

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Page Count

189

Publisher

Beinecke Rare Book &

Published Date

ISBN 10

0845731483

ISBN 13

9780845731482

The Letters of Gertrude Stein and Carl Van Vechten, 1913-1946

By: Gertrude Stein,Carl Van Vechten

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The Letters of Gertrude Stein and Carl Van Vechten, 1913-1946

By: Gertrude Stein,Carl Van Vechten

This monumental collection of correspondence between Gertrude Stein and critic, novelist, and photographer Carl Van Vechten provides crucial insight into Stein's life, art, and artistic milieu as well as Van Vechten's support of major cultural projects, such as the Harlem Renaissance. From their first meeting in 1913, Stein and Van Vechten formed a unique and powerful relationship, and Van Vechten worked vigorously to publish and promote Stein's work. Existing biographies of Stein--including her own autobiographical writings--omit a great deal about her experiences and thought. They lack the ordinary detail of what Stein called "daily everyday living" the immediate concerns, objects, people, and places that were the grist for her writing. These letters not only vividly represent those details but also showcase Stein and Van Vechten's private selves as writers. Edward Burns's extensive annotations include detailed cross-referencing of source materials.

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Page Count

920

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231063091

ISBN 13

9780231063098

The Letters of Gertrude Stein and Carl Van Vechten, 1913-1946

By: Gertrude Stein,Carl Van Vechten

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The Letters of Gertrude Stein and Carl Van Vechten, 1913-1946

By: Gertrude Stein,Carl Van Vechten

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920

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231063091

ISBN 13

9780231063098

Remember Me to Harlem

The Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten

By: Langston Hughes,Carl Van Vechten

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Remember Me to Harlem

The Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten

By: Langston Hughes,Carl Van Vechten

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Page Count

402

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307427447

ISBN 13

9780307427441

Generations in Black and White

Photographs

By: Carl Van Vechten

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Generations in Black and White

Photographs

By: Carl Van Vechten

Eighty-three photographs presenting W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Bessie Smith, Ruby Dee, Lena Horne, James Baldwin, and others, demonstrate Van Vechten's intent to enlighten white America about black culture.

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Page Count

201

Publisher

University of Georgia Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0820346179

ISBN 13

9780820346175

The Splendid Drunken Twenties

Selections from the Daybooks, 1922-1930

By: Carl Van Vechten

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The Splendid Drunken Twenties

Selections from the Daybooks, 1922-1930

By: Carl Van Vechten

This generous, representative sampling from the daybooks of Carl Van Vechten, one of the most significant figures of the Harlem Renaissance, is a rich resource and major reference tool for reconstructing the culture of 1920s New York, the social milieu during Prohibition, and more. Bruce Kellner has provided copious, informative notes identifying central figures and clarifying details.Between 1922 and 1930, Van Vechten kept a daily record of his activities. Not exactly diaries, but more than appointment books, the daybooks record his daily comings and goings as well as the alliances, drinking habits, feuds, and affairs of a wide number of luminaries of the period. They catalog tales of bootlegging, literary teas, shifting cliques of artists and writers, cabaret slumming, sexual and social peccadilloes, and a seemingly endless sequence of parties.

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Page Count

392

Publisher

University of Illinois Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0252028481

ISBN 13

9780252028489

Generations in Black and White

Photographs

By: Carl Van Vechten

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Generations in Black and White

Photographs

By: Carl Van Vechten

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Page Count

201

Publisher

University of Georgia Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0820346179

ISBN 13

9780820346175

Langston Hughes & the Blues

By: Steven Carl Tracy

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Langston Hughes & the Blues

By: Steven Carl Tracy

Drawing on a deep understanding of the shades and structures of the blues, Steven C. Tracy elucidates the vital relationship between this musical form and the art of Langston Hughes, preeminent poet of the Harlem Renaissance. Tracy provides a cultural context for the poet's work and shows how Hughes mined African-American oral and literary traditions to create his blues-inspired poetry. Through a detailed comparison of Hughes's poems to blues texts, Tracy demonstrates how the poetics, structures, rhythms, and musical techniques of the blues are reflected in Hughes's experimental forms. The volume also includes a discography of recordings by the blues artists--Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and others-who most influenced Hughes, updated in a new introduction by the author.

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Page Count

325

Publisher

University of Illinois Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0252069854

ISBN 13

9780252069857

Book's by Carl Van Vechten

Remember Me to Harlem

Remember Me to Harlem

Nigger Heaven

Nigger Heaven

Firecrackers

Firecrackers

Peter Whiffle

Peter Whiffle

Extravagant Crowd

Extravagant Crowd

The Letters of Gertrude Stein and Carl Van Vechten, 1913-1946

The Letters of Gertrude Stein and Carl Van Vechten, 1913-1946

The Letters of Gertrude Stein and Carl Van Vechten, 1913-1946

The Letters of Gertrude Stein and Carl Van Vechten, 1913-1946

Remember Me to Harlem

Remember Me to Harlem

Generations in Black and White

Generations in Black and White

The Splendid Drunken Twenties

The Splendid Drunken Twenties

Generations in Black and White

Generations in Black and White

Langston Hughes & the Blues

Langston Hughes & the Blues

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