Knowra Dorothy West Dorothy West Dorothy West was an American novelist and short-story writer associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Her novels The Living Is Easy and The Wedding examine Black life, class, family, and social ambition.
The Living Is Easy : Dorothy West’s 1948 novel follows Cleo Judson, a Black Boston woman whose drive for social advancement shapes her family life. West’s first novel turns social ambition and family conflict into a portrait of Boston’s Black middle class.
Roxbury : A neighborhood of Boston with a long history as a center of African-American life and culture. West was born and raised in Roxbury, whose Black community informs the social world of her fiction.
Langston Hughes : An American poet, novelist, and playwright whose work helped define the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes was West’s friend and travel companion on a 1920s trip to the Soviet Union.
The New Yorker : An American magazine of journalism, criticism, fiction, and cultural commentary, founded in 1925. West’s work for the magazine sustained her public presence and introduced her fiction to new audiences.
The Wedding : Dorothy West’s 1995 novel centers on the wedding of a wealthy Black woman to a white musician on Martha’s Vineyard. West’s best-known late novel examines color, class, and interracial marriage within an elite Black community.
Boston University : A private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1839. West attended Boston University before moving to New York and pursuing a literary career.
Zora Neale Hurston : An American writer and anthropologist known for Their Eyes Were Watching God and her studies of Black folklore. Hurston and West belonged to the same Harlem Renaissance literary circle.
Black women’s literature : Writing by Black women that explores their histories, identities, communities, and experiences. West’s novels and stories contribute a distinctive account of class and family to this literary tradition.
The Richer, the Poorer : A 1995 collection of Dorothy West’s short fiction, including stories published across several decades. The collection brings together the shorter fiction that accompanied West’s novels.
Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life : A magazine published by the National Urban League that supported Black writers and artists. West’s early writing appeared in the magazine, connecting her to a national network of Black authors.
Show all 19