Perspectives on Percival Everett / edited by Keith B. Mitchell and Robin G. Vander.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Mitchell, Keith B., 1962-

Vander, Robin G.

Series:

Margaret Walker Alexander series in African American studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Everett, Percival--Criticism and interpretation.

Everett, Percival.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

xvii, 167 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2013]

Summary:

Percival Everett (b. 1956) writes novels, short stories, poetry, and essays and is one of the most prolific, acclaimed, yet under-examined African American writers working today. Although to date Everett has published eighteen novels, three collections of short fiction, three poetry collections, and one children's book, his work has not garnered the critical attention that it deserves. Perhaps one of the most vexing problems scholars have had in trying to situate Everett's work is that they have found it difficult to place him and his work within a prescribed African American literary tradition. Because he happens to be African American, critics have expectations of so-called authentic African American fiction; however, his work often thwarts these expectations.

In Perspectives on Percival Everett, scholars engage all of his creative production. On the one hand, Everett is an African American novelist. On the other hand, he pursues subject matters that seemingly have little to do with African American culture. The operative word here is "seemingly"; for as these essays demonstrate, Everett's works fall well within as well as outside of what most critics would deem the African American literary tradition. These essays examine issues of identity, authenticity, and semiotics, in addition to postmodernism and African American and American literary traditions--issues essential to understanding his aesthetic and political concerns. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: changing the frame, framing the change: the art of Percival Everett / Keith B. Mitchell and Robin G. Vander

"Knowledge2 + certainty2 = squat2": (re)thinking identity and meaning in Percival Everett's The water cure / Jonathan Dittman

"This strange juggler's game": forclusion in Percival Everett's I am not Sidney Poitier / Sarah Mantilla Griffin

Frenzy: framing text to set discourse in a cultural continuum / Ronald Dorris

The preservationist impulse in Percival Everett's "True romance" / Frederic Dumas

The mind-body split in American desert: synthesizing Everett's critique of race, religion, and science / Richard Schur

A bird of a different feather: blues, jazz, and the difficult journey to the self in Percival Everett's Suder / Uzzie Cannon

"Do you mind if we make Craig Suder white?": from stereotype to cosmopolitan to grotesque in Percival Everett's Suder / Anthony Stewart

Charting the body: Percival Everett's corporeal landscapes in re: f (gesture) / Sarah Wyman

When the text becomes the stage: Percival Everett's performance turn in For Her dark skin / Robin G. Vander.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781617036828

161703682X

9781617036835

1617036838

OCLC:

793219718