Perspectives on Percival Everett
Essays by Uzzie Cannon, Jonathan Dittman, Ronald Dorris, Frédérick Dumas, Sarah Mantilla, Richard Schur, Anthony Stewart, Robin G. Vander, and Sarah Wyman Percival Everett (b. 1956) writes novels, short stories, poetry, and essays, and is one of the most prolific, acclaimed, yet underexamined 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.
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Perspectives on Percival Everett
Essays by Uzzie Cannon, Jonathan Dittman, Ronald Dorris, Frédérick Dumas, Sarah Mantilla, Richard Schur, Anthony Stewart, Robin G. Vander, and Sarah Wyman Percival Everett (b. 1956) writes novels, short stories, poetry, and essays, and is one of the most prolific, acclaimed, yet underexamined 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.
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Perspectives on Percival Everett

Perspectives on Percival Everett

Perspectives on Percival Everett

Perspectives on Percival Everett

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Overview

Essays by Uzzie Cannon, Jonathan Dittman, Ronald Dorris, Frédérick Dumas, Sarah Mantilla, Richard Schur, Anthony Stewart, Robin G. Vander, and Sarah Wyman Percival Everett (b. 1956) writes novels, short stories, poetry, and essays, and is one of the most prolific, acclaimed, yet underexamined 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781628460599
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Publication date: 05/29/2014
Series: Margaret Walker Alexander Series in African American Studies
Pages: 256
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Keith B. Mitchell, Lowell, Massachusetts, is assistant professor of English at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.


Robin G. Vander, New Orleans, Louisiana, is assistant professor of English and African American Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments VII

Introduction Changing the Frame, Framing the Change: The Art of Percival Everett Keith B. Mitchell Robin G. Vander ix

Chapter 1 "knowledge2 + certainty2 = squat2": (re)Thinking Identity and Meaning in Percival Everett's The Water Cure Jonathan Dittman 3

Chapter 2 "This Strange Juggler's Game" Forclusion in Percival Everett's 0 Sarah Mantilla Griffin 19

Chapter 3 Frenzy: Framing Text to Set Discourse in a Cultural Continuum Ronald Dorris 35

Chapter 4 The Preservationist Impulse in Percival Everett's "True Romance" Frédéric Dumas 60

Chapter 5 The Mind-Body Split in American Desert: Sythesizing Everett's Critique of Race, Religion, and Science Richard Schur 75

Chapter 6 A Bird of a Different Feather: Blues, Jazz, and the Difficult Journey to the Self in Percival Everett's Suder Uzzie Cannon 94

Chapter 7 "Do you mind if we make Craig Suder white?": From Stereotype to Cosmopolitan to Grotesque in Percival Everett's Suder Anthony Stewart 113

Chapter 8 Charting the Body: Percival Everett's Corporeal Landscapes in re: f (gesture) Sarah Wyman 126

Chapter 9 When the Text Becomes the Stage: Percival Everett's Performance Turn in For Her Dark Skin Robin G. Vander 139

Works Cited 152

Contributors 159

Index 162

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