Chester Himes (57 page)
Authors: James Sallis
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. 24â25.
24
.
The Southern Manifesto
, 1956.
25
.
Prison Literature in America
, pp. 206â207.
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. 7â8.
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. 1â2.
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. 11â12.
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, 94â95.
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. 203â204.
15. A Serious Savage
1
.
My Life of Absurdity
, p. 36.
2
. Ibid., pp. 31â32.
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. 261â62.
15
.
My Life of Absurdity
, p. 73.
16
. Ibid., p. 74.
17
. Ibid., p. 71.
18
. Ibid., pp. 69, 72, 73.
19
. Ibid., pp. 96â97.
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 Unpublished fragment, Amistad, quoted in Fabre and Margolies, p. 97.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. 95â96.
4
. Dedication,
Black No More
, p. 35.
5
.
Pinktoes
, pp. 24â25.
6
. Ibid., p. 24.
7
. Ibid., p. 23.
8
. Ibid., pp. 95â96.
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. 19â20.
23
. Ibid., p. 21.
24
. Milliken, pp. 10â11.
25
. Ibid., p. 269.
26
. Quoted in
My Life of Absurdity
, p. 170â71.
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. ixâx.
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. 109â110.
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. 171â72.
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. xvâxvi.
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. 24â25.
6
.
A Rage in Harlem
, Vintage pp. 49â50;
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. 241â42.
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. 102â103.
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. 135â36.
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. 112â13.
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.
