Early_Autumn

Early Autumn

早秋

By Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

兰斯顿·休斯

James Langston Hughes, American black poet, playwright, and novelist, one of the major members of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. He was born in Joplin, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was very small. Hughes once served a merchant seaman, a chef (in Paris), and a beachcomber (in Italy and Spain). His other travels include trips to Europe and Africa.

Hughes began writing poetry in high school, and was selected “Class Poet”. The summer after he graduated, he published his famous poem \"The Negro Speaks of Rivers\". He received recognition as a poet when, as a young man working as a waiter in a hotel, he showed some of his poems to a guest, the eminent poet, Vachel Lindsay. Lindsay enthusiastically introduced the poems to a literary gathering at the hotel and Hughes’s first book, The Weary Blues, was published as a result of the encouragement he received from Lindsay. In 1926 he enrolled at Lincoln University, where he graduated in 1929, the same year he finished his first novel. He became a well-known writer ever since.

Langston Hughes was a prolific writer. In the forty-odd years between his first

book in 1926 and his death in 1967, he devoted his life to writing and lecturing. He wrote sixteen books of poems, two novels, three collections of short stories, four volumes of \"editorial\" and \"documentary\" fiction, twenty plays, children's poetry, musicals and operas, three autobiographies, a dozen radio and television scripts and dozens of magazine articles. In addition, he edited seven anthologies. Hughes’ distinguished works includes: Not Without Laughter (1930); The Big Sea (1940); I Wonder As I Wander (1956), his autobiographies. His major collections of poetry include: The Weary Blues (1926); The Dream Keeper (1932); Shakespeare In Harlem (1942); Fields of Wonder (1947); One Way Ticket (1947); The First Book of Jazz (1955); and Selected Poems (1959). One of his best-written short story

collections is The Way of White Folks (1934). He also edited several anthologies in an attempt to popularize black authors and their works. Hughes’ writings have been translated into more than 25 languages.

Langston Hughes died on 22 May 1967, at the age of 67, in a hospital in New York.

“Early Autumn” is a very short story which tells how two lovers feel years after they parted.

Early Autumn

When Bill was very young, they had been in love. Many nights they had spent walking, talking together. Then something not very important had come between them, and they didn't speak. Impulsively, she had married a man she thought she

loved. Bill went away, bitter about women.

Yesterday, walking across Washington Square, she saw him for the first time in years.

\"Bill Walker,\" she said.

He stopped. At first he did not recognize her, to him she looked so old.

\"Mary! Where did you come from?\"

Unconsciously, she lifted her face as though wanting a kiss, but he held out his hand. She took it.

\"I live in New York now,\" she said.

\"Oh\" -- smiling politely, then a little frown came quickly between his eyes.

\"Always wondered what happened to you, Bill.\"

\"I'm a lawyer. Nice firm, way downtown[1].\"

\"Married yet?\"

\"Sure. Two kids.”

\"Oh,” she said.

A great many people went past them through the park. People they didn’t know. It was late afternoon. Nearly sunset. Cold.

\"And your husband?” he asked her.

“We have three children. I work in the bursar’s office at Columbia[2].”

“You’re looking very…” (he wanted to say old) “…well,” he said.

She understood. Under the trees in Washington Square, she found herself desperately reaching back into the past. She had been older than he then in Ohio. Now she was not young at all. Bill was still

young.

\"We live on Central Park West[3],\" she said. \"Come and see us sometime.\"

“Sure,” he replied. “You and your husband must have dinner with my family some night. Any night. Lucille and I’d love to have you.”

The leaves fell slowly from the trees in the Square. Fell without wind. Autumn dusk. She felt a little sick.

\"We'd love it,\" she answered.

\"You ought to see my kids.\" He grinned.

Suddenly the lights came on up the whole length of Fifth Avenue[4], chains of misty brilliance in the blue air.

\"There's my bus,\" she said.

He held out his hand. \"Good-bye.\"

\"When...\" she wanted to say, but the bus was ready to pull off. The lights on the avenue blurred. And she was afraid to open her mouth as she entered the bus. Afraid it would be impossible to utter a word.

Suddenly she shrieked very loudly, “Good-bye!” But the bus door had closed.

The bus started. People came between them outside, people crossing the street, people they didn't know. Space and people. She lost sight of Bill. Then she remembered she had forgotten to give him her address—or to ask him for his -- or tell him that her youngest boy was named Bill, too.

Notes

1. way downtown: 在市中心

2. Columbia: Columbia University

3. Central Park West: 中央公园西部，纽约住宅区。

4. Fifth Avenue: 第五大道，纽约繁华的商业区。

Questions for Discussion:

1. What caused Bill and Mary to leave each other many years ago? Do you think it is true with many lovers in reality?

2. How did Bill feel about women when Mary married another man?

3. Why couldn't Bill recognize Mary at first?

4. What can you learn about Bill and Mary’s life after they ended their relationship?

5. Why did Mary feel a little sick in the middle of their conversation?

6. Is it understandable to you that Bill and Mary responded differently to their unexpected meeting?

7. How important is the description of scenes in narrating the story?