Authors: E. Lynn Harris, Marita Golden
ISBN-13: 9780767910415, ISBN-10: 0767910419
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Date Published: October 2002
Edition: 1ST
How to categorize E. Lynn Harris? An African-American novelist? A gay novelist? A literary romance writer? Nothing quite fits, but to Harris s fans, his bestselling novels belong in a genre of their own: one in which the characters are as difficult and complex as their problems, and the solutions as bittersweet and resonant as they often are in life.
A literary rent party to benefit the Hurston/Wright Foundation of African-American fiction, with selections to savor from bestselling authors as well as talented rising stars.
Not since Terry McMillan's Breaking Ice have so many African-American writers been brought together in one volume.
Over 70 writers have contributed to this "literary rent party," the proceeds of which will benefit the Hurston/Wright Foundation, an organization that gives annual financial awards to novelists, nonfiction writers and students. Novelists Golden (The Edge of Heaven, etc.) and Harris (Invisible Life, etc.) offer a motley collection of previously published short stories and excerpts from novels. The book starts off strong with Edwidge Danticat's "The Dew Breaker," in which a Haitian expat marries the man who she believes tortured and killed her brother, followed by an excerpt from Percival Everett's excellent satire Erasure, which hilariously skewers "ghetto prose" and poseurs. Contributors run the gamut from recent M.F.A. grads to such established figures as Walter Mosley, Gloria Naylor, Terry McMillan and Jewelle Gomez. Formidable newcomers include R. Erica Doyle, whose brief but potent "Fortune" hints at a love affair between two Trinidadian women, while Bryan Gibson's epistolary tour de force "Fear of Floating" features a housing project resident who inadvertently becomes a kind of therapist to his troubled neighbors. While it is at times clear that literary excellence was not the only criterion for inclusion, this sprawling collection handily reflects the diversity and vibrancy of contemporary African-American fiction. Readers can also take comfort in the fact that they aren't just getting a real bang for their fiction bucks, they're also supporting a worthy cause. (Dec. 3) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Acknowledgments | ||
About the Hurston/Wright Foundations | ||
Note | ||
Note | ||
The Dew Breaker | 3 | |
From Erasure | 13 | |
From RL's Dream | 24 | |
From The Harris Men | 35 | |
The Boy-Fish | 43 | |
The Way I See It (From A Day Late and a Dollar Short) | 56 | |
From Pride | 77 | |
From What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day | 88 | |
Mourning Glo | 101 | |
From These Same Long Bones | 115 | |
Your Child Can Be a Model! | 138 | |
From Song of the Water Saints | 148 | |
Miss Prissy and the Penitentiary | 168 | |
Luminous Days | 176 | |
From Only Twice I've Wished for Heaven | 183 | |
Sonny-Boy (From Pictures of a Dying Man) | 195 | |
From Water Marked | 208 | |
From October Suite | 229 | |
Like Trees, Walking | 242 | |
Weight | 256 | |
From Thieves' Paradise | 267 | |
From P. G. County | 279 | |
My Heavenly Father | 291 | |
Lion's Blood | 299 | |
The Knowing | 305 | |
Luscious (From Loving Donovan) | 315 | |
From Crawfish Dreams | 325 | |
Press and Curl | 333 | |
I Don't Know Nothin' 'Bout Birthin' No Babies (From The River Where Blood Is Born) | 341 | |
Draggin' the Dog | 351 | |
Museum Guide (From Black Girl in Paris) | 359 | |
School (From Miss Black America) | 381 | |
Ghost Story (From Slapboxing with Jesus) | 389 | |
Clarity | 401 | |
My Mama, Your Mama (From Imani All Mine) | 412 | |
From Rails Under My Back | 428 | |
From Dakota Grand | 446 | |
The Dinner Party | 455 | |
Meeting Frederick (From Douglass's Women) | 458 | |
Eva and Isaiah (From Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do) | 464 | |
From Discretion | 472 | |
An Orange Line Train to Ballston | 485 | |
Lucielia Louise Turner (From The Women of Brewster Place) | 493 | |
Fortune | 506 | |
$100 and Nothing! | 512 | |
Are You Experienced? | 517 | |
Group Solo | 523 | |
Love | 536 | |
From Breathing Room | 544 | |
Love (From Drop) | 554 | |
Antiquated Desires | 566 | |
From Rest for the Weary | 572 | |
From Church Folk | 579 | |
From Commitment | 595 | |
Black and Boo | 616 | |
Rossonian Days | 631 | |
Helter Skelter | 644 | |
Here | 658 | |
Summer Comes Later | 662 | |
The Bulging Bag | 669 | |
From Sap Rising | 673 | |
Fire: An Origin Tale | 680 | |
Tan Son Nhut Airport, Ho Chi Minh City, 1997 (From The Land South of the Clouds) | 693 | |
Between Black and White | 698 | |
Hincty (From The Chosen People) | 708 | |
To Haiti or To Hell | 714 | |
Mirror Image | 725 | |
From What You Owe Me | 737 | |
Will Not Be Televised | 742 | |
Fear of Floating | 760 | |
From The Queen of Harlem | 773 | |
My Girl Mona | 785 | |
About the Contributors | 793 | |
Credits | 805 |