ENG 102

Ernest Hemingway built himself a reputation as a soldier of fortune, a large than life personality, a man and a myth, confusing the life he lived with the imaginary lives of his characters. This documentary focuses on his years in Italy. Through his meticulously documented notes, we gain insight into his friendships, his lovers, his love of food and wine, the landscape, pleasures, and tragedies, all of which shaped him as a writer. We see how Hemingway was the precursor of the modern celebrity, and uncover unknown and private aspects of this legendary character.

Hughes wrote of the beauty, dignity, and heritage of blacks in America. Interviews, music, and dance performances convey his work and influence, discussed by James Baldwin and biographer Arnold Rampersad.

Langston Hughes was one of the most prominent figures of the Harlem Renaissance and is often referred to as Harlem's poet laureate. This film shows how Hughes successfully fused jazz, blues and common speech to celebrate the beauty of Black life. Hughes' Dream Harlem presents a vision of the esteemed poet in present-day Harlem and makes an important case for Hughes' impact on hip-hop and the spoken-word community.

An American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist, Langston Hughes was first recognized as an important literary figure during the 1920s, a period known as the "Harlem Renaissance," a cultural movement made famous because of the number of emerging black writers, poets and scholars. Hughes, more than any other black poet or writer, recorded faithfully the nuances of black life and its frustrations and was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry. Embracing the common experience of black Americans, he was the bard of his people because he felt their joys and suffering himself. Hughes lived in several US cities, then traveled abroad extensively, first as a seaman, later as a war correspondent. Renowned for his folksy humor, his work was well received by a black audience who saw themselves in his characters. In 1934 Hughes first short story collection The Ways of White Folks, was published. It looked at the humorous and tragic interactions between races, but was tinged with pessimism. He went on to write countless works of poetry, prose and plays and had a popular column for the Chicago Defender. Hughes was a literary giant, always faithful to his belief that "most people are generally good, in every race and in every country where I have been." In 1960, the NAACP awarded Hughes the Spingarn Medal for distinguished achievement by a black American, calling him the "poet laureate of the Negro race."

In this program, Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker and renowned Langston Hughes biographer Arnold Rampersad talk about the “poet laureate of Harlem” with award-winning filmmaker Bruce Schwartz. Together they discuss experiences that shaped young Langston, how he came to be a writer, the beauty of his writing style, his practice of reaching out to aspiring writers, and the Harlem Renaissance as a literary and cultural watershed. They also discuss the force of religion in Southern Christian African-American communities, and “Salvation,” Hughes’s coming-of-age story, deftly brought to the screen by Schwartz.

Henrik Ibsen struck an early blow for feminism in 1879 with this liberated tale of a wife who rebels. Juliet Stevenson plays Nora who finally revolts against her husband's perception of her as a doll-wife whose opinions count for nothing.

This program introduces one of the greatest contemporary American authors: winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature, "a literary Moses stripping away the idols of whiteness and blackness that have prevented blacks from knowing themselves." Readings from Beloved and Jazz show how she returns to the pain of slavery and segregation to restore wholeness to the black psyche. "The past," Morrison says, "is more infinite than the future... It’s avoiding it, deceiving ourselves about it, that paralyzes growth."

"Who IS the foreigner? Am I the foreigner in my own home? Who decides?" Such were the questions posed by renowned author Toni Morrison at her 2006 guest-curated exhibit at the Louvre, THE FOREIGNER'S HOME.

There she invited several renowned artists whose work also dealt with the experience of cultural and social displacement to join her in a public discussion that Morrison herself had been pursuing through her own research and writing. This film expands that discussion by integrating exclusive footage of the Nobel Laureate in dialogue with artists in 2006 with a sit-down conversation in her own home in 2015.

Toni Morrison exists in two worlds: the visible world, bustling around her, and the world of her novels, whose characters tell about an interior reality hidden from the eyes of strangers. In her work, Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison has transported millions of readers into the experience of being black in America and confronting the realities of race. In this program with Bill Moyers, Morrison discusses the characters in her work, the people in her life, the power of love, and how the invented world of fiction connects to life.

In this compelling program, world-renowned author Toni Morrison candidly answers questions regarding how she became a writer, the pain of empathizing with her characters, the sensual nature of her novels, and how it felt to win the Nobel Prize. In addition, she pulls no punches discussing how she first became aware of her racial otherness, how writing for a black audience has kept her work from becoming derivative, the societal uses of racism, and how racism leads to barbarism when individuals abdicate their humanity.

Ignoring metrical constraints and rhyming, Walt Whitman shocks his contemporaries with his poems about sex. Using this free verse style, he then writes about American landscapes and life.

Brilliant readings of Whitman's poems demonstrate his American vision and style and vividly convey their poignancy and sheer power. Whitman's sources, including Emerson, the King James Bible, opera, and political oratory, are revealed.

Allmendinger describes Whitman's view of America's expansion. Experts describe his foundation of American poetry. Listen to an excerpt from "Song of Myself."

Ed Bradley profiles playwright August Wilson

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson feels his plays on black history originate in "the blood's memory."

Henrik Ibsen was born in the small coastal town of Skien in Norway. His family were middle class burghers. He worked as an apprentice to an apothecary before going to Oslo to study. He began writing plays which found little favour in Norway. He lived and wrote for about 30 years in Italy and Germany and became recognised worldwide as the greatest dramatist of his age and the Father of modern drama. The film traces his life and is followed by a brief overview of his works.