by James Sallis
12. New York Herald Tribune Review of Books, Jan. 10, 1954; Library Journal, Jan. 15, 1954.
13. Saturday Review of Literature, March 13, 1954; San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 7, 1954.
14. Catholic World, April 1954.
15. The New York Times, Jan. 10, 1954.
16. The End of a Primitive, p. 123.
17. The Harlem Cycle, Vol 2, p. xiv.
18. Introduction to The Third Generation (unpaginated).
19. Native Sons, p. 88.
20. Xavier Review interview.
21. Milliken, p. 139.
22. Ibid., p. 140.
23. Ibid., p. 145.
24. The Third Generation, p. 11.
25. Milliken, p. 147.
26. Ibid., pp. 151, 154.
27. Muller, p.61.
28. The Third Generation, pp. 162–63.
29. Milliken, p. 157.
30. “The Middle Years,” Complete Stories 1892–1898, The Library of America, 1996.
31. “Nothing Personal,” The Price of the Ticket, p. 384.
32. Milliken, pp. 151, 154.
13. Doubt, Passion, the Madness of Art
1. My Life of Absurdity, p. 7.
2. Ibid., pp. 9–10.
3. Ibid., p. 9.
4. Ibid., p. 6.
5. Ibid., p. 5.
6. Ibid., p. 10.
7. Ibid., p. 15.
8. Ibid., p. 18.
9. Chester Himes to Carl Van Vechten, March 28, 1955.
10. My Life of Absurdity, p. 25.
11. Stories, p. 191.
12. My Life of Absurdity, p. 28.
13. Run Man Run, p. 7.
14. My Life of Absurdity, p. 23.
15. New Republic, May 31, 1943.
16. Shrovetide in New Orleans, p. 96.
17. Baldwin, Collected Essays (New York: Library of America, 1996).
18. Stories, p. 364.
19. The Quality of Hurt, p. 349.
20. Ibid., p. 349.
21. Ibid., p. 301.
22. Conversations, p. 47.
23. My Life of Absurdity, pp. 24–25.
24. The Southern Manifesto, 1956.
25. Prison Literature in America, pp. 206–207.
26. Ibid., p. 227.
27. My Life of Absurdity, p. 25.
28. Ibid., p. 30.
29. Ibid.
14. Beautiful White Ruins of America
1. T. S. Eliot, Selected Essays (San Diego, New York, and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988), pp. 7–8.
2. Michel Fabre, “A Case of Rape,” Black World, March 1972.
3. The Practice of Writing, p. 143.
4. Milliken, p. 5.
5. Ibid., pp. 1–2.
6. “Le Chant des sirènes.”
7. Lukács, Theory of the Novel.
8. The Primitive, p. 159.
9. Ibid., p. 6.
10. The Quality of Hurt, p. 302.
11. Ibid., p. 305.
12. Milliken, p. 184.
13. Introduction to The End of a Primitive, pp. 11–12.
14. Conversations, p. 67.
15. Ibid., p. 132.
16. Ibid., p. 133.
17. Irving Howe, “Mass Society and Post-modern Fiction,” in The American Novel Since World War II, ed. Marcus Klein (New York: Fawcett, 1970).
18. The End of a Primitive, p. 13.
19. Ibid., p. 15.
20. Ibid., p. 24.
21. Milliken, p. 195.
22. The End of a Primitive, pp. 33, 94–95.
23. Ibid., p. 13.
24. Ibid., p. 75.
25. Ibid., p. 73.
26. Ibid., p. 72.
27. Ibid., pp. 37, 178.
28. Ibid., p. 132.
29. Ibid., p. 148.
30. Milliken, p. 198.
31. The End of a Primitive, pp. 123, 70.
32. Ibid., p. 92.
33. Ibid., p. 190.
34. Ibid., p. 134.
35. Ibid., pp. 203–204.
15. A Serious Savage
1. My Life of Absurdity, p. 36.
2. Ibid., pp. 31–32.
3. Ibid., p. 58.
4. Time, Oct. 27, 1958.
5. The Price of the Ticket, p. 285 (“Alas, Poor Richard”).
6. Chester Himes to Carl Van Vechten, April 26, 1956, Yale.
7. My Life of Absurdity p. 36.
8. Ibid., p. 39.
9. Ibid., p. 26.
10. Michel Fabre, “A Case of Rape,” Black World, March 1972.
11. My Life of Absurdity, p. 43.
12. Regine Fischer to Chester Himes, Dec. 1956, Amistad.
13. My Life of Absurdity, p. 61.
14. The Continual Pilgrimage, pp. 261–62.
15. My Life of Absurdity, p. 73.
16. Ibid., p. 74.
17. Ibid., p. 71.
18. Ibid., pp. 69, 72, 73.
19. Ibid., pp. 96–97.
20. Unpublished fragment, Amistad, quoted in Fabre and Margolies, p. 97.
21. My Life of Absurdity, p. 79.
22. Ibid., p. 79.
23. Ibid., p. 81.
24. Ibid., p. 88.
25. Ibid., p. 96.
26. Ibid., p. 113.
27. Ibid., pp. 113, 107.
28. Ibid., p. 118.
29. Ibid., p. 121.
16. A New Intelligence
1. The Primitive, p. 46.
2. Lonely Crusade, p. 95.
3. Ibid., pp. 95–96.
4. Dedication, Black No More, p. 35.
5. Pinktoes, pp. 24–25.
6. Ibid., p. 24.
7. Ibid., p. 23.
8. Ibid., pp. 95–96.
9. Chester Himes to John A. Williams, Oct. 31, 1962, Yale.
10. Amistad Collection.
11. My Life of Absurdity, p. 36.
12. Chester Himes to Carl Van Vechten, June 16, 1956, Yale.
13. My Life of Absurdity, p. 221.
14. Pinktoes, p. 92.
15. My Life of Absurdity, p. 244.
16. Conversations, p. 35.
17. The Authors Guild to Chester Himes, Aug. 12, 1968, Amistad.
18. Lundquist, p. 134.
19. Pinktoes, p. 82.
20. Ibid., p. 189.
21. Ibid., p. 216.
22. Ibid., pp. 19–20.
23. Ibid., p. 21.
24. Milliken, pp. 10–11.
25. Ibid., p. 269.
26. Quoted in My Life of Absurdity, p. 170–71.
27. My Life of Absurdity, p. 268.
28. Ibid., p. 268.
29. Michel Fabre, “A Case of Rape,” Black World, March 1972.
30. A Case of Rape, p. 83.
31. Ibid., p. 68.
32. Ibid., p. 98.
33. Ibid., p. 70.
34. Ibid., p. 72.
35. The Continual Pilgrimage, p. 204.
17. Gone So Long
1. My Life of Absurdity, p. 102.
2. Ibid., p. 102.
3. Introduction, The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 1, pp. ix–x.
4. My Life of Absurdity, p. 105.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., p. 109.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid., p. 111.
9. The Continual Pilgrimage, p. 206.
10. My Life of Absurdity, pp. 109–110.
11. Ibid., p. 126.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid., p. 120.
14. Introduction, The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 1, p. xi.
15. Ibid., p. viii.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid., p. xiii.
18. Joe Himes to James Sallis, Aug. 10, 1998.
19. My Life of Absurdity, p. 171–72.
20. Chester Himes to Marcel Duhamel, quoted in Fabre and Margolies, p. 106.
21. Chester Himes to Yves Malartic, December 1958, quoted in Fabre and Margolies, p. 110.
22. Introduction, The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 3, p. xii.
23. Ibid., p. xiv.
24. My Life of Absurdity p. 198.
25. Ibid.,
p. 200.
26. Chester Himes to Carl Van Vechten, Sept. 8, 1960, Yale.
27. Harrington, p. 25.
28. My Life of Absurdity p. 218.
29. Ibid., p. 201.
30. Ibid., p. 213.
31. Chester Himes to Lesley Packard, partially quoted in Fabre and Margolies, p. 121, and in Introduction, The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 3, pp. xv–xvi.
32. My Life of Absurdity p. 270.
33. From Harlem to Paris, p. 231.
34. My Life of Absurdity, p. 281.
35. “The Dilemma of the Negro Writer in America,” The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 2, p. xiv.
36. My Life of Absurdity, p. 276.
37. Ibid., p. 295.
38. Conversation with Margolies, reported in Fabre and Margolies, p. 137.
18. Black Ruins of My Life
1. Skinner, p. 49.
2. The Sanctified Church (New York: Marlowe & Company, 1981), p. 58.
3. Milliken, p. 251.
4. Conversation with Robert Skinner.
5. Lundquist, pp. 24–25.
6. A Rage in Harlem, Vintage pp. 49–50; The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 1, p. 53.
7. Milliken, p. 226.
8. A Rage in Harlem, Vintage p. 44; The Harlem Cycle Vol. 1, p. 47.
9. Ibid.
10. The Real Cool Killers, Vintage p. 15; The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 1, p. 191; Cotton Comes to Harlem, Vintage p. 13, The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 3, p. 13.
11. The Crazy Kill, Vintage p. 28, The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 1, p. 356; The Heat’s On, Vintage p. 9, The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 2, p. 329.
12. Milliken, p. 227.
13. Blind Man with a Pistol, Vintage p. 175, The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 3, p. 363.
14. Conversations with Robert Skinner.
15. Blind Man with a Pistol, Vintage p. 173; The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 3, p. 361.
16. Ibid., Vintage p. 175; Ibid., p. 363.
17. Milliken, pp. 241–42.
18. Blind Man with a Pistol, Vintage p. 170; The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 3, p. 358.
19. Lundquist, p. 125.
20. Ibid., p. 130.
21. Milliken, p. 220.
22. The Crazy Kill, Vintage p. 7; The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 1, p. 335.
23. The Heat’s On, Vintage p. 23; The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 2, p. 343.
24. Cotton Comes to Harlem, Vintage p. 35; The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 3, p. 39.
25. A Rage in Harlem, Vintage p. 93; The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 1, pp. 102–103.
26. Cotton Comes to Harlem, Vintage p. 81; The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 3, p. 95.
27. Run Man Run, p. 28.
28. Ibid., p. 12.
29. Milliken, p. 257.
30. Run Man Run, p. 134.
31. Ibid., p. 152.
32. The Blues Detective, p. 163.
33. Ibid., p. 126.
34. Blind Man with a Pistol, Vintage p. 191; The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 3, p. 379.
19. The Bad Mother
1. My Life of Absurdity, p. 333.
2. Ibid., p. 347.
3. Ibid., p. 363.
4. Ibid.
5. Conversations, p. 135–36.
6. Introduction to The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 3, p. xiv.
7. Ed Pearlstein to James Sallis, Nov. 4, 1999.
8. Constance Webb Pearlstein to James Sallis, Dec. 10, 1999.
9. Conversation with Joe Hunter.
10. Lesley Himes to James Sallis, Oct. 22, 1998.
11. Conversations, p. 23.
12. Cotton Comes to Harlem, Vintage p. 13; The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 3, p. 13.
13. Milliken, p. 227.
14. My Life of Absurdity, p. 382.
15. Gary Phillips to James Sallis, Jan. 24, 1999.
16. Conversations, pp. 112–13.
17. Conversations, p. 105.
18. Shrovetide in Old New Orleans, p. 98.
19. Ibid., p. 91.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid., p. 99.
22. Ibid.
23. Chester Himes to Larry Jordan, Feb. 1976, Amistad.
24. “What One Must Know,” manuscript at Xavier University Special Collections.
25. “Chester Himes’ Last Visit Home,” The Black Scholar, Vol. 28, No. 1.
26. “A Postscript on Black American Fiction,” American Energies (New York: William Morrow, 1992), p. 334.
27. Quoted in The Contemporary Afro-American Novel, p. 337, note 83.
20. “I Never Found a Place I Fit”
1. Chester Himes to Larry Jordan, Jan. 21, 1976, Amistad.
2. Chester Himes to Roslyn Targ, Sept. 27, 1974, Amistad.
3. Ibid., Dec. 24, 1974, Amistad.
4. Milliken, p. 288.
5. Black on Black, p. 11.
6. Chester Himes to Larry Jordan, Feb. 1976, Amistad.
7. Fabre and Margolies, p. 169.
8. Frank Bidart, Desire (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997), p. 13.
9. Introduction to The Harlem Cycle, Vol. 3, pp. xii–xiii.
10. My Life of Absurdity, p. 155.
11. Quoted by Julia Wright, foreword to Harrington, p. xiii.
12. Milliken, p. 305.
13. Ibid., p. 306.
14. Writin’ is Fightin’ pp. 130–31.
Selected Bibliography
Bailey, Frankie Y. Out of the Woodpile: Black Characters in Crime and Detective Fiction. New York, Westport, and London: Greenwood Press, 1991.
Baker, Houston A., Jr. Blues, Ideology, and Afro-American Literature: A Vernacular Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.
Baldwin, James. Collected Essays. New York: Library of America, 1998.
______. The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction 1948–1985. New York: St. Martin’s/Marek, 1985.
Bell, Bernard W. The Afro-American Novel and Its Tradition. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1987.
Berry, Faith. Langston Hughes Before and Beyond Harlem. Westport, Conn.: Lawrence Hill & Company, 1983.
Bone, Robert. The Negro Novel in America. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1965. (Revised edition of 1958 publication.)
Bontemps, Arna Wendell. The Harlem Renaissance Remembered. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1994.
Campbell, James. Paris Interzone. London: Secker & Warburg, 1994.
_______. Talking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin. New York: Viking Penguin, 1992.
Cooke, Michael. Afro-American Literature in the Twentieth Century: The Achievement of Intimacy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984.
Ellison, Ralph. Going to the Territory. New York: Random House, 1986.
______. Invisible Man. New York: The Modern Library, 1994.
______. Shadow and Act. New York: Random House, 1964.
Fabre, Michel. From Harlem to Paris: Black American Writers in France, 1840–1980. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1991.
______and Skinner, Robert, eds. Conversations with Chester Himes. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1995.
Franklin, H. Bruce. Prison Literature in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. (Expanded edition of The Victim as Criminal and Artist, Oxford 1978.)
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Harrington, Oliver W. Why I Left America and Other Essays. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1993.
Hughes, Carl Milton. The Negro Novelist. New York: Carol Publishing Group, 1990. (Originally published 1953.)
Kostelanetz, Richard, ed. On Contemporary Literature. New York: Avon Books, 1964, 1969.
Lundquist, James. Chester Himes. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1976.
Margolies, Edward. Native Sons. Philadelphia and New York: J.B. Lippincott, 1968.
_______. Which Way Did He Go? New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1982.
______ and Fabre, Michel. The Several Lives of Chester Himes. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1997.
Martin, Roger, ed. Hard-Boiled Dicks #8–9. Paris: L’Introuvable, December 1983. (Special Him
es issue.)
Milliken, Stephen F. Chester Himes: A Critical Appraisal. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1976.
Muller, Gilbert H. Chester Himes. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1989.
O’Brien, Geoffrey. Hardboiled America: Lurid Paperbacks and the Masters of Noir. New York: Da Capo Press, 1997.
Palmer, Robert. Deep Blues. New York: Viking Penguin, 1981.
Peplow, Michael W. George Schuyler. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1980.
Rampersand, Arnold. The Life of Langston Hughes. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986 and 1988.
Reed, Ishmael. Shrovetide in Old New Orleans. New York: Atheneum, 1989.
_______. Writin’ Is Fightin’. New York: Atheneum, 1988.
Sawyer-Lauçanno, Christopher. The Continual Pilgrimage: American Writers in Paris, 1944–1960. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1992.
Schuyler, George S. Black No More. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1971.
Silet, Charles L.P., ed. The Critical Response to Chester Himes. Westport and London: Greenwood Press, 1999.
Skinner, Robert. Two Guns from Harlem: The Detective Fiction of Chester Himes. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University Press, 1989.
Soitos, Stephen F. The Blues Detective: A Study of African American Detective Fiction. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1996.
Walker, Margaret. Richard Wright: Daemonic Genius. New York: Warner Books, 1988.
Williams, John A. Flashbacks: A Twenty-Year Diary of Article Writing. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, 1973.
_______. The Man Who Cried I Am. New York: Quality Paperback Book Club, 1994. (Originally published 1967.)
_______. The Most Native of Sons. New York: Doubleday, 1970.
Wright, Richard. Richard Wright Reader. Ellen Wright and Michel Fabre, eds. New York: Da Capo Press, 1997.
By the Same Author
NOVELS
The Long-Legged Fly
Moth
Black Hornet
Eye of the Cricket
Bluebottle
Death Will Have Your Eyes
Renderings
STORIES
A Few Last Words
Limits of the Sensible World
Time’s Hammers: Collected Stories
OTHER
Difficult Lives
Gently into the Land of the Meateaters
Ash of Stars: On the Writing of Samuel R. Delany (editor)
Saint Glinglin by Raymond Queneau (translator)
The Guitar Players
Jazz Guitars (editor)
The Guitar in Jazz (editor)
FORTHCOMING
Ghost of a Flea (novel)
Sorrow’s Kitchen (poems)
Black Night’s Gonna Catch Me Here: Selected Poems 1968–1998
