Interesting short novel inspired by the real-life group of Harlem artists to which the author belonged back in the 1920s. In some ways I feel I'm missing a lot here - the brief introduction of this edition gives some of the context, but the characters in Infants of the Spring are apparently based on other artists in the group, and I neither know enough about them or their work to pick up on the parallels and all the satirical references. (On the other hand, there are a few more people to add to my to-read list, which is never a bad thing.) Beyond all this missed specificity, however, is an often painfully incisive look at race - both through the friendship of Ray and Stephen, and through the different social reactions to this boarding house full of black artists. There's a sort of treacherous whirlpool of expectation, ambition, and prejudice which makes for genuinely compelling reading, and gives some insight as to what the author must have experienced himself.