As a whole, no pervasive quality unites what we now deem Harlem Renaissance literature outside of the era in which it developed. The inconsistency and varied nature of the works therefore place an even greater emphasis on the editorial processes that produced this canon. While the popular period has received much scholarly attention, the significance of editors and editing in the Harlem Renaissance—aside from the formative efforts of W.E.B. Du Bois and Alain Locke—remains understudied. As a remedy, Editing the Harlem Renaissance foregrounds an in-depth approach to relevant editing and editoria ... More

As a whole, no pervasive quality unites what we now deem Harlem Renaissance literature outside of the era in which it developed. The inconsistency and varied nature of the works therefore place an even greater emphasis on the editorial processes that produced this canon. While the popular period has received much scholarly attention, the significance of editors and editing in the Harlem Renaissance—aside from the formative efforts of W.E.B. Du Bois and Alain Locke—remains understudied. As a remedy, Editing the Harlem Renaissance foregrounds an in-depth approach to relevant editing and editorial issues, offering a variety of voices to become the first centralized authority on the subject. Rather than limiting the examination to a narrow understanding of editorial practices, this collection takes a broad and inclusive approach, exploring not only those figures of the Harlem Renaissance who edited in professional capacities but also those authors who employed editorial practices during the writing process, as well as those texts that have been discovered and/or edited by others in the decades following the Harlem Renaissance. To achieve this end, the collection comprises chapters in several areas, including professional editing, authorial editing, textual self-fashioning, textual editing, documentary editing, and bibliography.