Chester B. Himes
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283photo-dramatized by Parks: Gordon Parks, “A Man Becomes Invisible,” Life, August 25, 1952, 8–11.
283“an abler U.S. Negro novelist”: “Native Doesn’t Live Here Anymore: Rev. of The Outsider by Richard Wright,” Time, March 30, 1953, 92.
283“I have joined”: HF, 14.
283“great like Shakespeare”: Horace Cayton and Ralph Ellison, interview notes, September 8, 1968, MF, box 46, folder 56.
284“the best of all”: CH to Yves Malartic, February 26, 1953, MF, box 7, folder 4.
284“too chicken”: Ralph Ellison to Horace Cayton, n.d. [winter 1957], RE, box 41, folder “Cayton, Horace.”
284“was mad and acting”: Cayton and Ellison, interview notes.
284“a private misunderstanding”: MLA, 124.
284“riotous affair”: Ralph Ellison to Richard Wright, January 21, 1953, RW, box 97, folder 1314.
285“By far the most intense”: Advertisement for The Third Generation, New York Times Book Review, January 10, 1954, 9.
285“When she went to Chicago”: QH, 136.
286“rough hewn”: Gertrude Martin, “Book Reviews: Rev. of Cast the First Stone by Chester Himes,” Chicago Defender, January 24, 1953, 11; Paul Sampson, “Prison Story Misses Its Mark,” Washington Post, February 8, 1953, B6.
286“relationships among men”: Gilbert Millstein, “Life in a Cell-Block,” New York Times Book Review, January 18, 1953, 24.
286“perhaps one of the foulest”: Henry F. Winslow, “Book of the Week: Rev. of Cast the First Stone by Chester Himes,” Pittsburgh Courier, April 18, 1953, 9.
286“I am afraid”: Ellison to Wright, January 21, 1953.
286“decidedly homophobic”: Richard Gibson to Michel Fabre, June 6, 1988, MF, box 6 folder, 18.
287Even though he was uncomfortable: CH to CVV, December 11, 1952, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1952–1956.”
287the remaining $2500 advance: Zevin to CH, October 16, 1954.
288“social realism”: James Baldwin, “History as Nightmare,” review of Lonely Crusade by Chester Himes, New Leader, October 25, 1947, 11.
288“I suppose you received”: CH to Wright, February 19, 1953, RW, box 99, folder 1393.
289“I’m so goddamned close”: CH to Wright, March 18, 1953, ibid.
289“strange and strained”: Cayton to CH, March 18, 1953.
290“stylish, nice-looking”: QH, 150.
291“fidelity to sexual detail”: Ibid., 157.
291sheltered downed Allied airmen: “Husband Beat Her for Aiding Allies,” Daily Boston Globe, December 10, 1946, 12.
292featured in Time: “Untitled,” Time, February 2, 1953, 11.
292“assured, distinguished”: QH, 297.
292“if things work out”: CH to Malartic, March 11, 1953, MF, box 7, folder 4.
292reminded jazzy Parisians of the strip: Marcel Duhamel, Raconte pas ta vie (Paris: Mercure de France, 1972), 527.
293“gone completely French”: QH, 180.
293“immoderate curiosity”: Ibid., 183.
293“I don’t know exactly”: CH to CVV, May 12, 1953, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1952–1956.”
294“exceedingly dull”: QH, 185.
294“could say no”: Ibid., 189.
294“wild and raging fury”: Ibid., 178.
294“adventure without responsibilities”: CH, A Case of Rape (Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1984), 94.
295Wright himself had been throwing: CH to JAW, October 31, 1962, DCDJ, 24.
295“gossipy little” Café Monaco: CH, “Impressions of Europe,” p. 2, CHP-T, box 7, folder 82.
295“a lost and unhappy lot”: CH to CVV, May 12, 1953.
295“bragging about their scars”: QH, 224.
296“smaller, less wide-eyed”: CH, “Impressions of Europe,” p. 2.
296“most outstanding characteristic”: QH, 185.
297“COME QUICKLY”: Ibid., p. 190.
298Schine demanded from Wright: HF, p. 93.
298already public knowledge: Richard Wright, “I Tried to Be a Communist,” Atlantic Monthly, September 1944, 48–56.
298“That stupid son of a bitch”: QH, 199.
298“small, intense young man”: Ibid., 200.
298Franco-American Fellowship: Lawrence Jackson, The Indignant Generation: A Narrative History of Black Writers and Critics, 1934–1960 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2010), 386.
299Baldwin found it “embarrassing”: James Baldwin to William Cole, n.d. [c. August 1953], James Baldwin Mss. Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington.
299“We’re perfectly pleasant”: James Baldwin to William Cole, n.d. [c. November 1952], ibid.
299“As I listened”: HF, 94.
299“black is a terrible color”: James Baldwin, “Many Thousands Gone,” in Notes of a Native Son (1955; repr., Boston: Beacon, 1984), 30. This influential essay was originally published in 1951 in Partisan Review and reprinted in 1953 in the journal Perspectives USA.
300“the sons must slay the fathers”: QH, 201.
300“my ally, my witness”: James Baldwin, “Richard Wright,” Encounter, April 1961, 58.
300“taken leave of his senses”: QH, 201.
300“written my book”: HF, 7.
301“our boy” and “your son”: CH to Wright, June 1, 1953.
301“it lacks force”: Marie Frazier to CH, n.d. [c. May–June 1953], CHP-T, box 7, folder 9.
301“We shall promote”: William Targ to CH, June 2, 1953, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
302“Get all you can”: QH, 208.
302“soul shattering”: WT to CH (“Darling I was very glad”), n.d. Friday night, [c. late June 1955], CHP-T, box 6, folder 5.
302“inferior and ill at ease”: CH, A Case of Rape, 70.
302“furious with himself”: QH, 208.
302“Dick would have been”: WT to CH, (“Darling: I was glad to hear”), n.d. Monday morning [c. January 1955], CHP-T, box 6, folder 4.
303“I have the kind”: CH to Walter Freeman, December 10, 1956, CHP-T, box 3, folder 14.
303“as though she were my patient”: QH, 163.
303“the rich, French leftist”: CH to William Targ, July 14, 1953, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
303“Richard Wright is a great man”: QH, 211.
304“too subtle and complicated”: CH to Targ, July 14, 1953.
304“hard hurried contest”: CH to Malartic, May 11, 1953, MF, box 7, folder 4.
304“It must be wonderful”: Ruth Phillips to CH, June 3, 1953, CHP-T, box 7, folder 3.
304“I think Mr. Himes”: WT to Yvonne Malartic, May 14, 1953, CHP-T, box 6, folder 4.
304Willa disliked the sensation: WT to CH, (“Chester: You asked me”), n.d. Tuesday night [c. April 1955], CHP-T, box 6, folder 4.
305“I am living here”: CH to CVV, June 1, 1953, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1952–1955.”
305“I’ve made so many”: CH to Wright, June 1, 1953.
305“in one dramatic incident”: CH to Malartic, n.d. [“Thursday,” c. June 1953], MF, box 7, folder 4.
306“hopes” of The Cord “doing fairly well”: CH to Malartic, February 18, 1953, ibid.
306“I got what I wanted”: CH to Targ, May 25, 1953, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
306“with great interest and satisfaction”: Targ to CH, June 2, 1953, ibid.
307“courageous, uncomplaining”: QH, 211.
307“asked Kriss how she could”: WT to CH, (“Darling: I have your special”), n.d. Thursday noontime [December 1954], CHP-T, box 6, folder 5.
307“Oh, there are lots of American white women”: QH, 247.
308“Race prejudice is about”: CH to Malartic, July 11, 1953.
309“drab, walled prison”: CH, “Impressions of Europe,” 9.
309“a single volume”: Ibid.
309“I think they are off”: Targ to CH, July 27, 1953, CHP-T, box 6, folder 1.
309“The book you have”:
Donald Friede to CH, August 1, 1953, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
310“The situation which now exists”: CH to Targ, August 13, 1953, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
311“limited engagement”: QH, 261.
311Since June, Chester has been courting: Targ to CH, June 10, 1953, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
311“I shall look forward”: Donald Friede to CH, August 10, 1953, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
312“a nice, healthy, wholesome”: QH, 264, 265.
313Early in October: Targ to CH, October 2, 1953, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
313“None of the readers”: Ibid.
313“most reluctant” Targ: Targ to CH, October 9, 1953, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
313“big, ugly, smoky and dismal”: CH to Malartic, October 21, 1953, MF, box 7, folder 4.
313“the most awful”: CH to CVV, August 17, 1954, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1952–1955.”
314“I’m keeping my fingers”: CH to Targ, December 3, 1953, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
314“repay me well”: CH to CVV, January 19, 1954, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1952–1955.”
314“too damn cold to bathe”: QH, 269.
11. OTHELLO
315“into herself like a hurt animal”: QH, 271.
315engaging World in an option ploy: Ben Zevin to CH, October 16, 1954, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20; CH to CVV, April 15, 1954, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1952–1955.”
316“inexperienced and untraveled”: QH, 271.
316“tearful, sinister-looking”: Ibid., 274.
316“but the few New York reviews”: CH to CVV, February 5, 1954, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1952–1955.”
317“considerable power”: John Brooks, “Tragedy in Sepia,” New York Times Book Review, January 10, 1954, 29.
317“Tragic power”: Edmund Fuller, “A Moving Novel of Negro Life,” Chicago Tribune, January 10, 1954, B5.
317“his best novel to date”: Gertrude Martin, “Book Reviews,” Chicago Defender, January 16, 1954, 7.
317“The most dangerous”: Marion L. Starkey, “Most Dangerous Kind of ‘Momism,’ ” Boston Globe, January 31, 1954, C71.
317“a less depressing book”: Brooks, “Tragedy in Sepia.”
317“just an exercise”: Blyden Jackson, “The Blithe Newcomers: Resume of Negro Literature in 1954: Part I,” Phylon (1st quarter 1955): 9.
318“problems and conflicts”: Arthur P. Davis, “Integration and Race Literature,” Phylon (2nd quarter 1956): 143.
318“moving along not too badly”: William Targ to CH, February 9, 1954, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
3185146 copies: Royalty Statement, The Third Generation by Chester Himes, World Publishing Company, September 25, 1954, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
318“big vulgar” advertisements: CH to CVV, August 17, 1954, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1952–1955.”
319“number of American lunatics”: CH to Yves Malartic, May 29, 1954, MF, box 7, folder 4.
319“I was trying to express”: QH, 285.
319“some of the most pornographic”: CH to CVV, April 15, 1954, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1952–1955.”.
320“I don’t want you”: CH to William Targ, April 6, 1954, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
320“Everyone here believes”: Targ to CH, April 13, 1954, ibid.
320“one of the most profane”: CH to CVV, May 25, 1954, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1952–1955.”
321“every good soldier”: CH to Edward Himes, November 20, 1971, JSH, box 2, folder 11; QH, 290.
321sent $50 directly: CH to Targ, April 25, 1954, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
321“good deal of surrealism”: CH to CVV, July 7, 1954, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1952–1955.”
322“American idiots”: CH to Malartic, February 16, 1954, MF, box 7, folder 4.
322“The Americans and the English”: QH, 306.
323“I caught him looking”: WT to CH (“Darling: I have your special”) n.d. Thursday noontime [April 1955], CHP-T, box 6, folder 5.
323“such rapport with men”: QH, 307.
323“practically begging in the streets”: CH to Malartic, June 7, 1954, MF, box 7, folder 4.
323“If published it would”: Targ to CH, July 1, 1954, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
324“We Negro writers”: CH to Targ, July 6, 1954, CHP, box 2, folder 20.
324“the grim humorous attack”: CH to Malartic, July 7, 1954, MF, box 7, folder 4.
324“I like this book”: CH to Yves Malartic, July 29, 1954, ibid.
324he thought the book a masterpiece: CH to CVV, July 29, 1954, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1952–1955.”
325“I must confess this bundle”: CH to Targ, August 23, 1954, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
326“distraught and intent”: QH, 323.
327“it’s better for me”: CH to Ben Zevin, n.d. [c. September 1954], CHP-T, box 6, folder 15.
327“Himes, you’ll never”: QH, 347.
328“puritan wave flowing around”: Jean Rosenthal to CH, September 30, 1954, CHP-T, box 1, folder 6.
328“cooled off mightily”: CH to CVV, October 16, 1954, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1952–1955.”
328“I was an awful person in Paris”: WT to CH, n.d. [c. December 12, 1954], CHP-T, box 6, folder 4.
328Chester withdrew from the agency: CH to Jean Rosenthal, October 15, 1954, CHP-T, box 1, folder 6.
328she was foolish to suppose: CH to Mrs. Boutelleau, October 14, 1954, CHP-T, box 3, folder 3.
328“Sick at heart”: CH to Targ, October 11, 1954, CHP-T, box 2, folder 20.
329earned the company $4,380.96: Ben Zevin to CH, October 16, 1954, ibid.
329“too specialized”: J. Laughlin to CH, November 9, 1954, CHP-T, box 1, folder 17.
329“things are now bad enough”: CH to CVV, October 16, 1954.
329“rather frail”: Marcel Duhamel, Raconte pas ta vie (Paris: Mercure de France, 1972), 589.
329a contract for The End of a Primitive: CH to Marcel Duhamel, July 19, 1955, CHP-T, box 1, folder 11.
329“wanted this Negro”: CH to CVV, December 16, 1954, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1952–1955.”
329“a detective story”: CH to CVV, November 29, 1954, ibid.
330“and how I managed”: CH to Victor Weybright, November 3, 1954, CHP-T, box 1, folder 24.
330“she shouldn’t think of it”: QH, 350.
330He needed time alone: WT to CH (“Darling, I don’t quite know how”), n.d. Friday [c. June 1955], CHP-T, box 6, folder 4.
331“every paragraph of it”: Annie Brierre to CH, n.d. [c. 1954–1955], CHP-T, box 3, folder 3.
331“an art strong enough”: Jean-Claude Brisville, review of S’il braille, lâche-le, by CH, La Nef (December 1949–January 1950): 130, quoted in Grégory Pierrot, “Chester Himes, Boris Vian, and the Transatlantic Politics of Racial Representation,” African American Review (Summer–Fall 2009): 256.
332“insolent and hostile”: CH to CVV, November 29, 1954.
332“the black Prometheus”: Leonard Barnes, review of How Britain Rules Africa, by George Padmore, International Affairs (September 1937): 797.
333“Are you really divorced”: WT to CH (“trouble in Paris”), n.d. [c. April 1955], CHP-T, box 6, folder 4; WT to CH (“Darling: I have your special”), n.d. Thursday noontime [c. April 1955].
333“I think your writing”: WT to CH, December 20, 1954, CHP-T, box 6, folder 4.
333“We had each”: MLA, 11.
334“I am backing out”: Ibid., 10.
334free to do: WT to CH, January 5, 1955, CHP-T, box 6, folder 4.
334on January 15, 1955: WT to CH, January 20, 1955, ibid.
334“broke, bitter, defeated”: MLA, 11.
335“Everything is such”: WT to CH (“Monday morning, This will be”), n.d. [c. late February 1955], CHP-T, box 6, folder 4.
335mailing a weekly stipend: WT to CH (“Here’s your check”) n.d. Friday noon [c. late February 1955], ibid.
335“Have you heard”: WT to CH (“Wednesday at home 2pm, This is just”), n.d. [c. early February 1955], ibid.
335“I liked Fanny”: Ibid.
336“making love to her”: MLA, 14.
336“We might be able”: WT to CH (“Friday night, Just before I left”), n.d. [c. late February 1955], CHP-T, box 6, folder 4.
336“Darling, thank you”: WT to CH (“It is finally my lunch hour”), n.d. [c. late February 1955], ibid.
336“her white tiny body”: MLA, 25.
336“booney”: WT to CH (“Well I finally did get home”) n.d. Monday morning [c. late February 1955], CHP-T, box 6, folder 4.
336“My, what a problem we have!”: WT to CH, (“Darling: I came in anyway”), n.d. Wednesday [winter 1955], ibid.
336through an open door: CH to JAW, October 31, 1962, DCDJ, 27.
337“God loved Eve”: CH and WT, Silver Altar, typescript, LPH, collection 690, box 3 (8), folder 9, pp. 608, 609.
337“People, Americans”: WT to CH (“Darling I am so weary”), n.d. Monday, [c. late February 1955], CHP-T, box 6, folder 4.
337“Very few white women”: WT to CH (“Chester: You asked me to write”), n.d. Tuesday night [April 1955], ibid.
338“magnificent” writing: WT to CH (“Darling: Now I shall write you a nice long letter”), n.d. Wednesday afternoon [late spring 1955], ibid.
338“It is the first time”: WT to CH (“It is finally my lunch hour”) n.d. [c. late February 1955].
338“little bit wrong”: WT to CH (“Friday night, Just before I left”) n.d. [c. late February 1955].
339“What’s the difference”: WT to CH (“Darling I was very glad”), n.d. Friday night, [c. late June 1955], CHP-T, box 6, folder 4.
340“Can you imagine”: WT to CH (“Now that I have recovered”) n.d. Thursday night, [c. June 1955], ibid.
340“a very attractive intelligent person”: WT to CH (“Chester: You asked me to write”), n.d. Tuesday night [April 1955].
340“I never believed it possible”: WT to CH (“Darling I received your long letter”), n.d. Saturday [c. May 1955], CHP-T, box 6, folder 4.
340“furious and hurt”: MLA, 19.
340“I am hoping”: CH to CVV, March 28, 1955, CVVP, box He–Hols, folder “Himes, Chester B. 1952–1955.”