His work was at times the subject of debate, especially in the turbulent 1960s, because he often chose historical, intellectual subject matter and focused little on politics or ideology. Shifts in literary fashions to more informal poetic styles have added to Tolson's neglect, said Nelson, an American literature scholar and former U.Va. A close reading of such works as his Harlem Gallery, Tolson's complex masterpiece in 24 wide-ranging cantos, reveals an urgent meditation on the plight of the black artist in a white society and shows a deep concern with social injustice, Nelson said. Both tragic and comic, full of strange, moving, and powerful moments, Harlem Gallery is by any standard remarkable, he said, adding that it draws powerfully on Tolson's lifelong observations of African-American life. Like works of other modernist poets such as T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, Harlem Gallery can at times be hard to grasp fully without explanatory notes, Nelson said.
Many modern poets have that problem.
The need for an annotated edition was obvious. We should read it for the often difficult things it has to say about the theory, history, and nourishment of art for its embattled meditations about the curse of choice in a world of unacceptable alternatives. We should certainly read it as a controversial treatise about race in the United States and for its robust anatomy of the roles, responsibilities, and enigmas of the African-American artist. These are important issues of both the moment and the long haul.