Saturday, November 27, 2010

Surviving A Brain Tumor



                    Let me say, in all modesty, that I’m a good writer. In fact I’ve written four novels, all which have been bestsellers.
          So I was pretty nonchalant when I turned on my computer to finish my new manuscript which was due to Warner Books in eight months. I hadn’t worked on it in weeks, so I re-read my last chapter to ensure continuity.
          After one page I screamed: “I’ve never read anything so boring in my life!”
          And when I tried writing a new chapter I came up empty of ideas.
          Had I suddenly been plunged into the Twilight’s Zone?
         Worse, I soon found out. I’d developed a brain tumor.

Langston Hughes - Poet Laurette of the Harlem Renaissance

 
Langston Hughes 1902 - 1967


Langston Hughes short stories and poems usually took place in Harlem during the Harlem renaissance. His writings and literature was something he took very serious, and during that time it was hard to have a job as a writer. That time was the 1920’s and 30’s. Langston Hughes was then labeled as a literary phenomenon because he was the first African American to take such seriousness with his works. He traveled all through out the world, which also had a great effect on his writings and experiences.
            Langston Hughes’ poems and stories are classified as racial affirmation meaning injustice or inequality, and racial protest. During his time of writing there were big economic crises, racial problems, a world war, and oppression. His writings reflex all of this and people regarded him as a writer who was idea of social and political justice. He then focused on certain topics such as Jim Crow laws, lynching, injustice, and inclusion.

written by Camille R. Quinones Miller