Georgetown Peabody Library

The best of Simple, Langston Hughes ; illustrated by Bernhard Nast

eng

illustrations

no index present

short stories

The best of Simple

254361

Langston Hughes ; illustrated by Bernhard Nast

American century series

Langston Hughes's stories about Jesse B. Semple--first composed for a weekly column in the Chicago Defender and then collected in Simple Speaks His Mind, Simple Takes a Wife, and Simple Stakes a Claim--have been read and loved by hundreds of thousands of readers. In The Best of Simple, the author picked his favorites from these earlier volumes, stories that not only have proved popular but are now part of a great and growing literary traditionSimple might be considered an Everyman for black Americans. Hughes himself wrote: " ... these tales are about a great many people--although they are stories about no specific persons as such. But it is impossible to live in Harlem and not know at least a hundred Simples, fifty Joyces, twenty-five Zaritas, and several Cousin Minnies--or reasonable facsimiles thereof."As Arnold Rampersad has written, Simple is "one of the most memorable and winning characters in the annals of American literature, justly regarded as one of Hughes's most inspired creations."

Foreword : Who is Simple? -- Feet live their own life -- Landladies -- Simple prays a prayer -- Conversation on the corner -- Simple on Indian blood -- A toast to Harlem -- Simple and his sins -- Temptation -- Wooing the muse -- Vacation -- Letting off steam -- Jealousy -- Banquet in honor -- A veteran falls -- High bed -- Final fear -- There ought to be a law -- Income tax -- No alternative -- Springtime -- Last whipping -- Seeing double -- Simple on military integration -- Blue evening -- A letter from Baltimore -- Seven rings -- What can a man say? -- Empty room -- Picture for her dresser -- Cocktail sip -- Apple strudel -- Bop -- Formals and funerals -- Fancy free -- Midsummer madness -- Morals is her middle name -- They come and they go -- A million : and one -- Two loving arms -- Kick for punt -- Subway to Jamaica -- No tea for the fever -- Boys, birds, and bees -- On the warpath -- A hearty amen -- Must have a seal -- Shadow of the blues -- Once in a wife-time -- Present for Joyce -- Christmas song -- Tied in a bow -- Sometimes I wonder -- Four rings -- Simply love -- Bang-up big end -- Duty is not snooty -- Bones, bombs, chicken necks -- A dog named Trilby -- Enter Cousin Minnie -- Radioactive red caps -- Two sides not enough -- Puerto Ricans -- Minnie again -- Vicious circle -- Again Cousin Minnie -- Name in print -- Minnie one more time -- An auto-obituary -- Jazz, jive, and jam