The Several Lives of Chester Himes
A fascinating blend of hatred and tenderness, of hard-boiled realism and generous idealism colors the writings of Chester Himes. How did this gifted son of the respectable southern black family become a juvenile delinquent? How did he acquire self-esteem and a new sense of identity by writing short stories while in the Ohio state penitentiary?\ Chester Himes (1909-1984) had literary genius. Yet in his native country, he is recalled more as the author of successful detective novels (Cotton...
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A critical biography that reveals the varied profiles of the expatriate authorPublishers WeeklyAs an American who preferred Europe, a published author with a hatred of publishers and a serious writer best known for the potboilers he wrote late in his career, Himes (1909-1984) was also an acerbic African American of partial white ancestry who reduced his contradictory circumstances and nature to race, declaring "if one is a Negro, one is absurd." After eight years in jail for armed robbery committed at age 19 and a homosexual relationship he would later call the most fulfilling of his, Himes produced a wealth of pulpy short stories for Esquire and other magazines in the '30s and '40s, as well as several novels on racial themes (most famously, If He Hollers Let Him Go) which he thought were deliberately smothered by their publishers. Moving to the '50s Paris of better-known friends James Baldwin and Richard Wright, Himes began to write a genre-blending series of what he called Harlem domestic detective storiesseething policiers, such as A Rage in Harlem, that indicted American interracial relations. These often centered on an idea he applied in his life as well: that black men could heal white women, as both were oppressed by white men. Margolies and Fabre, two American studies professors who knew Himes during the last 20 years of his life, draw generously upon Himes's work, letters and notoriously untrustworthy memoirs for this concise, matter-of-fact biography, neither fawning over nor condescending to their complex subject, whose work and life showed his dual obsessions with violence and reform. (June)
\ Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly\ As an American who preferred Europe, a published author with a hatred of publishers and a serious writer best known for the potboilers he wrote late in his career, Himes (1909-1984) was also an acerbic African American of partial white ancestry who reduced his contradictory circumstances and nature to race, declaring "if one is a Negro, one is absurd." After eight years in jail for armed robbery committed at age 19 and a homosexual relationship he would later call the most fulfilling of his, Himes produced a wealth of pulpy short stories for Esquire and other magazines in the '30s and '40s, as well as several novels on racial themes (most famously, If He Hollers Let Him Go) which he thought were deliberately smothered by their publishers. Moving to the '50s Paris of better-known friends James Baldwin and Richard Wright, Himes began to write a genre-blending series of what he called Harlem domestic detective storiesseething policiers, such as A Rage in Harlem, that indicted American interracial relations. These often centered on an idea he applied in his life as well: that black men could heal white women, as both were oppressed by white men. Margolies and Fabre, two American studies professors who knew Himes during the last 20 years of his life, draw generously upon Himes's work, letters and notoriously untrustworthy memoirs for this concise, matter-of-fact biography, neither fawning over nor condescending to their complex subject, whose work and life showed his dual obsessions with violence and reform. (June)\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalMargolies (emeritus, Coll. of Staten Island) and Fabre (emeritus, Universit de la Sorbonne) are probably best known for their work on Richard Wright. It took them almost 15 years to complete this slim biography of Wright's fellow expatriate writer, Himes (author of such popular novels as A Rage in Harlem and Cotton Comes to Harlem). It is easy to see why this project took so long. The authors have done an exhaustive search of archival sources and conducted numerous interviews with Himes's friends and family, resulting in a disturbing portrait of a creative, highly complex man. The authors chronicle his troubled relationship with his parents, his brushes with the law, his life in Europe, his struggles to be considered a "serious" writer, his conflicting views on race relations, and a numbing litany of his affairs (mostly interracial). This is a fascinating, highly readable book best taken in small pieces. Recommended for academic collections.Louis J. Parascandola, Long Island Univ., Brooklyn Campus\ \
