Chester B. Himes: A Biography

Name: Chester B. Himes: A Biography
Author: Lawrence P. Jackson
ISBN: 9780393063899

by Lawrence P. Jackson

Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical Work Finalist for the PEN America/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography The definitive biography of the groundbreaking African American author who had an extraordinary legacy on black writers globally. Chester B. Himes has been called “one of the towering figures of the black literary tradition” (Henry Louis Gates Jr.), “the best writer of mayhem yarns since Raymond Chandler” (San Francisco Chronicle), and “a quirky American genius” (Walter Mosely). He was the twentieth century’s most prolific black writer, captured the spirit of his times expertly, and left a distinctive mark on American literature. Yet today he stands largely forgotten. In this definitive biography of Chester B. Himes (1909–1984), Lawrence P.…

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"Chester Himes’ life story, as described in this vivid biography, is just as surreal as those detective novels (like *Cotton Comes to Harlem*) that boosted his literary reputation. While attending Ohio State University in the late 1920s, Himes fell into bad company. After a couple of serious brushes with the law, he robbed a white couple inside their home. The upshot was the stuff of nightmares: In a little over the space of one year, Himes went from the state university to the state penitentiary. In prison, he began writing stories that eventually were published in *Esquire*. Himes, like the literature he created, was difficult and sometimes cruel; but biographer Lawrence P. Jackson demonstrates why he’s well worth the trouble."

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