Bøker av Countee Cullen

Countee Cullen was an African American poet, playwright, and novelist and a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance. His informal education was shaped by Black culture and ideas, while his formal education was dominated by white culture, a dichotomy that profoundly impacted his writing. Copper Sun, a collection of over fifty poems, is his second book of poetry. Cullen explores the emotional consequences of race, religion, and sexuality in Jazz Age America. His verse is moving, eloquent, and poignant and is as powerful today as when it was published nearly a century ago. Accompanied by seventeen beautiful Art Deco illustrations from the original publication, these poems will inspire conversations about courage, heartache, identity, love, and more while nourishing your spirit every step along the way.

Poet, playwright, novelist, graduate of DeWitt Clinton High, New York University, and Harvard University, Countee Cullen (1903-1946) emerged as a leading literary figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Copper Sun, his second book of poetry, explores the emotional consequences of being black, Christian, bisexual, and a poet in Jazz Age America-such as in the following "Confession":If for a day joy masters me,Think not my wounds are healed;Far deeper than the scars you see,I keep the roots concealed.They shall bear blossoms with the fall;I have their word for this,Who tend my roots with rains of gall,And suns of prejudice.Countee Cullen's poetry is illustrated with 16 decorative cuts created by Charles Cullen (no relation to the poet) in extravagant Art Deco style.

Color (1925) is a collection of poems by Countee Cullen. Published the same year Cullen entered Harvard to pursue a masters in English, Color was a brilliant debut by a poet who had already gained a reputation as a leading young artist of the Harlem Renaissance. Deeply personal and attuned to poetic tradition, Cullen's verses capture the spirit of creative inquiry that defined a generation of writers, musicians, painters, and intellectuals while changing the course of American history itself."Over three centuries removed / From the scenes his fathers loved, / Spicy grove, cinnamon tree, / What is Africa to me?" In "Heritage," Cullen investigates his relationship with the past as a black man raised in a nation his people were forced to build. His question bears a dual sense of genuine wonder and cynical doubt, and ultimately produces no easy answer. For Cullen could have just as easily asked "What is America to me?", to which his poem "Incident" might respond: "I saw a Baltimorean / Keep looking straight at me. / [...] / And so I smiled, but he poked out / His tongue, and called me, 'Nigger.' / [...] Of all the things that happened there / That's all I can remember." In these lines, a single memory serves to define an entire city; an entire childhood, even, is defined by the violent response of a white man consumed with hatred. Cullen's relationship to place, whether Africa, America, or Baltimore, is inextricably linked to his experience of racial violence. With this knowledge, he navigates the spaces between these places, inhabiting a language and a poetic tradition thrust upon him at birth. For Cullen, poetry is as much a means of survival and self-invention as it is a form of art-without it, where would he be?Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book. With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.