Black/Irish: Comparing the Harlem and Irish renaissances.

Abstract

The Abbey Theatre's 1911 tour of the United States caused more than the unrest over The Playboy of the Western World: it caught the imagination of Americans interested in exploring the various facets of their national identity, including several African-Americans who went on to participate in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Although internal literary influence is frequently emphasized by the current generation of African-Americanists, this study documents an external influence, establishing important parallels between the Harlem and Irish Renaissances and exploring the fascination of these similarities for the intellectuals of the time. Although much has been written about each renaissance, my study is the first full-scale discussion relating these two movements. It begins by grounding the two movements historically and investigating early twentieth-century comparisons of them made by African-Americans, European-Americans, and Irish people. Next, it explores the issues of language, identity, and representation, including throughout the work of women who participated in both movements but who have often been marginalized in their histories. Finally, it suggests that the interest of early twentieth-century African-Americans and Irish people in each other's work indicates the importance of accepting both internal and external influences. Major writers discussed include Lady Gregory, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Claude McKay, John Synge, and W. B. Yeats. Many African-American and Irish writers have seen themselves as members of distinct groups and yet have felt free to draw on and become part of a larger culture as well. Critical studies of African-American literature should begin to move away from the emphasis on purely internal literary influence of the last twenty-five years and consider as well the influence of members of other groups.