Being a Negro writer these days is a racket and I'm going to make the most of it while it lasts. About twice a year I sell a story. It is acclaimed. I am a genius in the making. Thank God for this Negro literary renaissance. Long may it flourish
Interpretation
The quote expresses the challenges and opportunities of being a Black writer, emphasizing the temporary nature of success within a cultural renaissance.
Wallace Thurman's quote highlights the complex experience of being a Black writer in a time of cultural awakening. He recognizes the struggles and limitations inherent in his situation, while simultaneously celebrating his own successes and the broader movement of Negro literature. It suggests awareness of the fleeting nature of opportunity in the artistic world and a determination to make the most of it during a significant cultural period.
In practice
This quote can be used during a lecture on the significance of the Harlem Renaissance.
Judge: And what is your occupation in general? Brodsky: Poet, poet-translator. Judge: And who recognized you to be a poet? Who put you in the ranks of poet? Brodsky: No one. And who put me in the ranks of humanity? Judge: Did you study it?...How to be a poet? Did you attempt to finish an insitute of higher learning...where they prepare...teach Brodsky: I did not think that it is given to one by education. Judge: By what then? Brodsky: I think that it is from God.
All you're trying to do in an improvisation is get as much material as possible for the editing room.
Poetry is also the physical self of the poet, and it is impossible to separate the poet from his poetry.
That kill the bloom before its time, And blanch, without the owner's crime, The most resplendent hair.
What I perceive in science fiction is that it's more about how everything looks than what's going on, which I think is just difficult if you're an action character. I think they are about character, not about what it looks like.
I was interested in ideas, not merely visual products. I wanted to put painting once again at the service of the mind.
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