Colson Whitehead

[jd]

Following the novels The Intuitionist (1998) and John Henry Days
(2001), and the nonfiction The Colossus of New York (2004), a paean to
New York City, Whitehead disappoints in this intriguingly conceived
but static tale of a small town with an identity crisis.A
conspicuously unnamed African-American "nomenclature consultant" has
had big success in branding Apex bandages, which come in custom shades
to match any skin tone. The "hurt" of the Apex tag line is deviously
resonant, poetically invoking banal scrapes and deep-seated,
historical injustice; both types of wounds are festering in the town
of Winthrop, which looks like a midwestern anytown but was founded by
ex-slaves migrating during Reconstruction. Winthrop's town council,
locked in a dispute over the town's name, have called in the
protagonist to decide. Of the three council members, Mayor Regina
Goode, who is black and a descendant of the town's founders, wants to
revert to the town's original name, Freedom. "Lucky" Aberdine, a white
local boy turned software magnate, favors the professionally crafted
New Prospera; and no-visible-means-of-support "Uncle Albie" Winthrop
(also white) sees no sense in changing the town's long-standing
name—which, of course, happens to be his own.Quirky
what's-in-a-name?–style pontificating follows, and it often feels as
if Whitehead is just thinking out loud as the nomenclature consultant
weighs the arguments, meets the citizens and worries over the
mysterious "misfortune" that has recently shaken his faith in his work
(and even taken one of his toes). The Apex backstory spins out in a
slow, retrospective treatment that competes with the town's travails.
The bickering runs its course listlessly, and a last-minute discovery
provides a convenient, bittersweet resolution. Whitehead's third novel
attempts to confront a very large problem: How can a society progress
while keeping a real sense of history—when a language for that history
doesn't exist and progress itself seems bankrupt? But he doesn't give
the problem enough room enough to develop, and none of his characters
is rich enough to give it weight.

That's from the Amazon page for the book.  I'll check out the
Institutionist... that one doesn't sound amazing but I mean I guess I
shouldn't judge a book by it's PW blurb.

On 4/10/06, James Kyllo <jkyllo at gmail.com> wrote:
> Interesting... is the new novel published now over there?  I liked the
> Intuitionist a lot, but didn't think John Henry Days ever rose much
> above OK.
>
> On 4/10/06, Dave Monroe <monropolitan at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Even in bright limelight, writer toils on
> > Colson Whitehead won a 'genius grant,' but he is
> > focused on his work
> >
> > Matt Ehlers, Staff Writer
> >
> > Let's say that strangers dropped $500,000 on your lap
> > because they thought you were good at your job.
> >
> > Would you quit working? Would the money amp up the
> > pressure to the point where work was impossible?
> >
> > For author Colson Whitehead, neither was true. He took
> > the money -- in the form of a "genius grant" from The
> > John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation --
> > bought a new desk and chair, paid some bills and got
> > right back to work.
> >
> > "It was just very calming," said Whitehead, 36, on the
> > phone from his Brooklyn apartment. With the extra
> > money, "I became less anxious about what my next move
> > was. I think it gave me breathing room to try and
> > figure out 'Apex' more."
> >
> > "Apex Hides the Hurt" is his latest novel, the story
> > of a "nomenclature consultant" tasked with renaming a
> > small town. Whitehead, author of "The Intuitionist"
> > and "John Henry Days," will be in Durham on Wednesday
> > for a reading at The Regulator Bookshop.
> >
> > He learned he won the grant in the fall of 2002, when
> > he received a call from the foundation. The no-strings
> > fellowships are designed to be a surprise and
> > Whitehead didn't even know he was nominated. It took a
> > little convincing on the part of the caller, but he
> > eventually came around to accepting his good fortune.
> >
> > "It was great to have people believe in you and give
> > you money to do different things," said the author,
> > who some believe is creating stories that are among
> > the greatest examples of fiction today.
> >
> > "He's in the vanguard of young African-American
> > writers, maybe at the pinnacle," said Randall Kenan,
> > an associate professor of creative writing at
> > UNC-Chapel Hill. "You have to go back to Thomas
> > Pynchon or Saul Bellow to come close to what he's
> > creating."
> >
> > In "Apex," what Whitehead created is a protagonist
> > whose sole job is to name products. "Apex" refers to
> > one of his career highlights, the brand name of an
> > adhesive bandage that comes in a variety of shades to
> > better match the skin color of its wearer. The book
> > comments on everything from the emphasis on marketing
> > in contemporary culture to class and race, both in the
> > 19th century and today.
> >
> > "Wild and weird things happen in his books," Kenan
> > said. "His imagination is unprecedented."
> >
> > While many black writers concentrate on social
> > realism, Whitehead heads in a different direction,
> > writing about worlds in which elevator repairmen can
> > step into a car and decide what's wrong with it simply
> > by intuition.
> >
> > "I don't feel like I have to conform to some idea of
> > what black literature is," Whitehead said. "I think of
> > my ideas and I try to execute them well."
> >
> > He realizes that what he's doing is different. He's
> > reminded of it when he tries to explain what he's
> > working on. "Whenever I have a new idea and I tell
> > somebody, they're like, 'Huh?'
> >
> > "So I would say, 'It's about two warring groups of
> > elevator inspectors. ...' "
> >
> > As his work has become better known, it has become
> > easier to talk about. But in the beginning, "it was
> > sort of hard to explain what I was spending all of my
> > time doing."
> >
> > Whitehead spends some of that time writing about race,
> > although it is not the entire focus. In "Apex," the
> > main character is African-American, although his skin
> > color is rarely addressed.
> >
> > "It's something I write about. It's obviously
> > something I'm interested in, trying to situate the
> > changing concepts of race in America," Whitehead said.
> > "It's not the whole megillah."
> >
> > He has already begun his next book. Instead of
> > concentrating on a weird occupation, Whitehead is
> > writing about growing up in the '80s. It's more
> > autobiographical than his previous work, but Whitehead
> > didn't want to say too much more. He didn't want to
> > jinx it.
> >
> > With the kind of roll he's on, it would take a lot
> > more than a few words to derail a work-in-progress. In
> > addition to the fellowship, Whitehead has won the
> > Young Lions Fiction Award and has been a finalist for
> > both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the
> > Pulitzer Prize.
> >
> > "I feel like I write my strange little books, and I'm
> > fortunate that some people like them. Some don't," he
> > said, laughing. "But some do."
> >
> > http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/425037.html
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> > http://mail.yahoo.com
> >
>
>
> --
> http://www.last.fm/user/Auto_Da_Fe
> http://www.pop.nu/show_collection.asp?user=2412
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/kjamesk/
> http://www.thedetails.co.uk/
>
>