Nigger Heaven
Encyclopedia : N : NI : NIG : Nigger Heaven
Nigger Heaven (1926) is a book by Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) set during the Harlem renaissance in the United States in the 1920s. The book has been controversial since its publication for its title. However, the title refers to the balconies of movie theaters. During Jim Crow years, the balconies were reserved for African Americans, while the white audience sat below. One pejorative term for the balcony, therefore, was "nigger heaven."
The novel, on the other hand, was a portrayal of life in the "great black walled city" of Harlem. It shows a world full of intellectuals, political activists, and bacchanalian workers all mixed in together. The plot of the novel concerns two people, a quiet librarian and an aspiring writer, who try to keep their love alive as racism denies them every opportunity.
Although being a regular dime novel, it became an instant bestseller and served as informal pocket guide to Harlem. It also split the black literary community, as some, e.g. Langston Hughes, Nella Larsen, and Wallace Thurman, appreciated it, while others like Countee Cullen, W.E.B. DuBois, and Alain Locke regarded it as an "affront to the hospitality of black folks". However, the book was one of the reasons for "Harlemania", during which the area of Harlem became en vogue among white people, who then frequented its cabarets, bars, and so on.
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.