Chester Himes

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Chester Bomar Himes (July 29, 1909 – November 12, 1984) was a famous African American writer. His works include If He Hollers Let Him Go and a series of Harlem Detective novels.

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[edit] Life

Chester Himes was born in Jefferson City, Missouri on July 29, 1909. He grew up in a middle-class home in Missouri and in Ohio. Chester's parents were Joseph Sandy Himes and Estelle Bomar Himes.

Himes attended East High School in Cleveland Ohio. While he was a freshman at Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio, he was expelled for a prank. Years later, he entered prison for armed robbery. In prison, he wrote short stories and had them published in national magazines. Himes stated that writing and publishing was a way to earn respect from guards and fellow inmates, as well as avoid violence.[citation needed]

By the 1950s Himes had decided to settle in France permanently, a country he liked in part due to his critical popularity there. In Paris Himes was the contemporary of the political cartoonist, Oliver Harrington, and fellow writers, Richard Wright and James Baldwin.

Some regard Chester Himes as the literary equal of Dashiell Hammett[citation needed] and Raymond Chandler[citation needed]. Ishmael Reed says "[Himes] taught me the difference between a black detective and Sherlock Homes" and it would be more than 30 years until another Black mystery writer, Walter Mosley and his Easy Rawlins and Mouse series, had even a similar effect. http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/reed/reed_ishmael0.html Himes was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans. [1]

James Sallis wrote a biography of Himes called Chester Himes: A Life (2000).

In 1969, Himes moved to Moraira, Spain, where he died in 1984 from Parkinson's Disease.

[edit] Works

A recent edition of If He Hollers Let Him Go
A recent edition of If He Hollers Let Him Go

Himes's novels encompassed many genres including the crime novel/mystery and political polemics, exploring racism in the United States.

Chester Himes wrote about African Americans in general, especially in two books that are concerned with labor relations and African American workplace issues. If He Hollers Let Him Go—which contains many autobiographical elements—is about a black shipyard worker in Los Angeles during World War II struggling against racism as well as his own violent reactions to racism. Lonely Crusade is a longer work that examines some of the same issues. Cast the First Stone is based on Himes' experiences in prison. It was Himes' first novel but was not published until about 10 years after it was written. One reason may have been Himes' unusually candid treatment - for that time - of a homosexual relationship.

Himes also wrote a series of Harlem Detective novels featuring Coffin Ed Johnson and Gravedigger Jones, New York City police detectives in Harlem. The novels feature a mordant emotional timbre and a fatalistic approach to street situations. Funeral homes are often part of the story, and funeral director H. Exodus Clay is a recurring character in these books.

The titles of the series include A Rage In Harlem, The Real Cool Killers, The Crazy Kill, All Shot Up, The Big Gold Dream, The Heat's On, Cotton Comes to Harlem, and Blind Man With A Pistol; all written in the period 1957-1969.

Cotton Comes to Harlem was made into a movie in 1970, which was set in that time period, rather than the earlier period of the original book. A sequel, Come Back, Charleston Blue was released in 1972. And For Love of Imabelle was made into a film under the title A Rage in Harlem in 1991.

[edit] Bibliography

  1. If He Hollers Let Him Go, 1945
  2. The Lonely Crusade, 1947
  3. Cast the First Stone, 1953
  4. The Third Generation, 1954
  5. The End of a Primitive, 1955
  6. For Love of Imabelle, alternate title A Rage in Harlem, 1957
  7. The Real Cool Killers, 1959
  8. The Crazy Kill, 1959
  9. The Big Gold Dream, 1960
  10. All Shot up, 1960
  11. Run Man Run, 1960
  12. Pinktoes, 1961
  13. The Heat's on, 1966
  14. Cotton Comes to Harlem, 1965
  15. Blind Man with a Pistol, 1969
  16. The Quality of Hurt, 1972
  17. Black on Black, 1973
  18. My Life of Absurdity, 1976
  19. A Case of Rape, 1980
  20. The Collected Stories of Chester Himes, 1990
  21. Plan B, 1993
  22. Yesterday Will Make You Cry, 1998

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Lipsitz, George. Rainbow at Midnight: Labor and Culture in the 1940s. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. 1994.

[edit] External links

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