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.
I remember saying to myself those things are very, very important to hear, but there must be another way to say them so that they will truly be heard. I mean, that's what art is. Art is about being provocative. Art is also about beauty. And if you leave the latter out, the former doesn't matter.
I don't have a therapist, so I use me as my own therapist when I'm making the music.
The artist enriches the soul of humanity. _x000D_ The artist delights people with _x000D_ a thousand different shades of feeling.
I didn't know Kurt Cobain or Amy Winehouse, but I was affected by both of their deaths because I admired their work so much and mourned their youth and work they would never produce.
Every fine story must leave in the mind of the sensitive reader an intangible residuum of pleasure, a cadence, a quality of voice that is exclusively the writer's own, individual, unique.
The life of a writer is tragic: the more we advance, the farther there is to go and the more there is to say, the less time there is to say it.
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