In the novels and plays of the Harlem Renaissance, [[Africa]] is represented as a lost paradise offering a solace for those to whom the American dream remains inaccessible. While black American authors wished to restore value to the black man, by showing Harlem as a place of nocturnal pleasures they perpetuated the stereotype of the black as a searcher for sensual amusement. In addition, the authors sought to recapture traits that a dehumanizing/industrial society had lost - beauty, harmony of man with nature, and spontaneity - by emphasizing primitivism and exoticism in Africa. Despite its ambiguities, the Harlem Renaissance is the first explicit rebirth among black intellectuals of the racial and cultural bonds linking black America and Africa, a reevaluation of Africa and its past, and a response to the quest for self-identity. | In the novels and plays of the Harlem Renaissance, [[Africa]] is represented as a lost paradise offering a solace for those to whom the American dream remains inaccessible. While black American authors wished to restore value to the black man, by showing Harlem as a place of nocturnal pleasures they perpetuated the stereotype of the black as a searcher for sensual amusement. In addition, the authors sought to recapture traits that a dehumanizing/industrial society had lost - beauty, harmony of man with nature, and spontaneity - by emphasizing primitivism and exoticism in Africa. Despite its ambiguities, the Harlem Renaissance is the first explicit rebirth among black intellectuals of the racial and cultural bonds linking black America and Africa, a reevaluation of Africa and its past, and a response to the quest for self-identity. |