William Wells Brown

[Tom Beshear]

Clotel was published in 1853, so the rumors about Jefferson went way back (I think they were used against him when he ran for president) and persisted.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: David Morris 
  To: Tom Beshear 
  Cc: alice malice ; pynchon-l at waste.org 
  Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2014 8:31 PM
  Subject: Re: William Wells Brown


  I didn't know when the novel was written. But haven't the black heirs long sought recognition by the established ones? But even after DNA they are not embraced. A sorry and shameful closed heartedness prevails. I have long admired Jefferson's aspirations for this country. Had he not been, we might not have made it this far. And he did purchase the land I now inhabit at the mouth of the Big River. Executive overreach?  Yes. But smart.

  On Saturday, March 15, 2014, Tom Beshear <tbeshear at att.net> wrote:

    I mean it was a compelling premise for a novel that was written when it was written. In 2014, of course, we know what Brown and plenty of others had reason to suspect.
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: David Morris 
      To: Tom Beshear 
      Cc: alice malice ; pynchon-l at waste.org 
      Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2014 6:52 PM
      Subject: Re: William Wells Brown


      I think "compells" implies plausibility, where I think now DNA has proven it to be true.

      On Saturday, March 15, 2014, Tom Beshear <tbeshear at att.net> wrote:

        Clotel is a fascinating novel -- kind of a mess, doesn't hold together the way we want novels to -- but its premise that Jefferson had children with one of  his slaves compels, as do the scenes illustrating the attitudes of various Southerners.

        ----- Original Message ----- From: "alice malice" <alicewmalice at gmail.com>
        To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
        Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2014 4:56 PM
        Subject: William Wells Brown



          Why Brown? Because he pioneered virtually every genre of African
          American writing. Want to know black culture in his revolutionary time
          and as it has come down to us today? Read William Wells Brown. Because
          he was the most rivetingly inventive, entertaining black writer of his
          era. And because he was, as a mid-twentieth-century critic noted, a
          person unable to be uninteresting.

          http://blog.loa.org/
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          Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l 


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        Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
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