Moving on

Nella Larsen in a photo
shot by Carl Van Vechton

My original intention upon finishing my last chapter was to immediately catch up on some background reading. That is, reading that is generally related to my subject - mass media, photography, etc - but not specifically related to the chapter - Nella Larsen.

Although this background reading is essential, after only one week of it, it makes me feel directionless and floundering. I need to balance this general work with specific research on my topic. I don't want to take as long with this chapter as I did with my last one. My goal is really to have it done by May or June, which is not too far away!!!!

Also, after getting some feedback from a friend on my first chapter, I feel that I want to make the link between photography and Larsen much more specific. In other words, I really want to demonstrate that Larsen was aware of the role photography played in her writing. There were a number of photographs taken of her by Carl Van Vechten, a publisher, and I need to look into the publication history of them. There is little mention of photography in either of the books I plan to write about, though there is a painted portrait that plays an important role in Quicksand.

I might need to start some of the archival work I want to do at the Smithsonian. In order to do this archival work, however, I need to understand the role the mass media magazines played in the lives of African Americans. I am just starting this process and there might be a whole new slew of magazines I need to research. Was there a Vogue equivalent for the African American female audience of the Harlem Renaissance? Certainly, it must have been commercially viable. And there is no doubt that these women are absent from the "mass" media publications of the time I have seen. Did this absence mean that Larsen avoided these publications or were they all the more compelling to her? Where were images of African American writers and artists published? I know they are out there!

Lots of questions. Stay tuned to what I hope will be the answers.