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Virtuosic in his use of literary forms, nurtured and unbounded by his identities as a Black man, a gay man, an intellectual, and a Southerner, Randall Kenan was known for his groundbreaking fiction. Less visible were his extraordinary nonfiction essays, published as introductions to anthologies and in small journals, revealing countless facets of Kenan's life and work.
Flying under the radar, these writings were his most personal and autobiographical: memories of the three women who raised him—a grandmother, a schoolteacher great-aunt, and the great-aunt's best friend; recollections of his boyhood fear of snakes and his rapturous discoveries in books; sensual evocations of the land, seasons, and crops—the labor of tobacco picking and hog killing—of the eastern North Carolina lowlands where he grew up; and the food (oh the deliriously delectable Southern foods!) that sustained him. Here too is his intellectual coming of age; his passionate appreciations of kindred spirits as far-flung as Eartha Kitt, Gordon Parks, Ingmar Bergman, and James Baldwin. This powerful collection is a testament to a great mind, a great soul, and a great writer.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
September 6, 2022 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9798765052334
- File size: 244872 KB
- Duration: 08:30:08
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from June 13, 2022
This sublime posthumous collection of essays from novelist Kenan (A Visitation of Spirits), who died in 2020, offers a moving take on the things that inspired his work, largely Southern culture. Early essays immerse the reader in Kenan’s childhood in Chinquapin, N.C. In “Notes Toward an Essay on Imagining Thomas Jefferson Watching a Performance of the Musical Hamilton,” Kenan argues that “Southernness is inextricably bound to Blackness,” and that “food was the only province in which the African American contribution has not been thoroughly muted.” Elsewhere, he touches on the intersection of pop culture and politics—in “The Many Lives of Eartha Kitt,” Kenan praises Kitt for standing up for her convictions during a White House visit, during which she reportedly made Lady Bird Johnson cry with her direct line of questioning about the Vietnam War. “Letter from North Carolina,” meanwhile, is a particularly moving piece about removing Confederate monuments, including Silent Sam, a statue that stood outside the University of North Carolina campus until it was toppled by protesters in 2018. The pieces add up to a rich and rewarding testament to Kenan’s curiosity and candor. Fans and new readers alike will appreciate this opportunity to take in Kenan’s remarkable talent.
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