According to the Beauford Delaney biography, Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney, Beauford read avidly and wished he could be a writer. Here are images of some of his favorite writers.
Richard Wright
1939 Carl Van Vechten
Henry Miller
1940 Carl Van Vechten
Zora Neale Hurston
Source: Wikimedia Commons
André Gide
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Langston Hughes
1936 Carl Van Vechten
Marcel Proust
Source: Wikimedia Commons
James Baldwin
1955 Carl Van Vechten
Henry Miller's work was perhaps the most meaningful to Beauford because of the troubled relationship that Beauford had with his own sexuality. Biographer David A. Leeming states that Miller "opened up the possibility that sexuality could be liberating and 'good'..." He quotes a letter that Beauford sent to Miller regarding the effect that Miller's writing had on him:
Miller did much to support Beauford, personally and professionally, and the two men became friends for life.
1939 Carl Van Vechten
1940 Carl Van Vechten
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Source: Wikimedia Commons
1936 Carl Van Vechten
Source: Wikimedia Commons
1955 Carl Van Vechten
Henry Miller's work was perhaps the most meaningful to Beauford because of the troubled relationship that Beauford had with his own sexuality. Biographer David A. Leeming states that Miller "opened up the possibility that sexuality could be liberating and 'good'..." He quotes a letter that Beauford sent to Miller regarding the effect that Miller's writing had on him:
I am sure you understand me when I say that my way is clearer [now] - vision more serene.
Miller did much to support Beauford, personally and professionally, and the two men became friends for life.
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