"The fictional works of Langston Hughes have not yet received the scholarly attention they deserve. Harper's book will help to rectify this neglect. Harper traces the history of Hughes's short stories about Jesse B. Semple ("Simple"), published from 1943 to 1965, putting them into the context of their times and explaining the reasons for their long-standing appeal."--Choice

"In Not So Simple, Donna Akiba Sullivan Harper examines the character as he emerged in Hughes's columns, from the beginning to Semple's farewell in The New York Post in December 1965, by which time Semple was being decried by many as an anachronism that failed to reflect the growing complexity of black life in a turbulent time. . . . Ms. Harper . . . uses Hughes's own writings and other research material to place Jesse B. Semple against the backdrop of a rapidly changing America."--New York Times Book Review

"Harper . . . has written the definitive account of the birth and development of a wise commoner."--Library Journal

About the Author

Donna Akiba Sullivan Harper is Associate Professor of English at Spelman College in Atlanta and President of the Langston Hughes Society. She is the editor of The Return of Simple and of Short Stories of Langston Hughes.