Synopses & Reviews
Henry Dumas’s fiction is a masterful synthesis of myth and religion, culture and nature, mask and identity. From the Deep South to the simmering streets of Harlem, his characters embark on surreal and mythic quests armed only with wit, words, and wisdom. Championed by Toni Morrison, Walter Mosley, and Quincy Troupe, -Dumas’s books have long been out of print. All of his short fiction is collected here, for the first time, and includes several previously unpublished stories.
Henry Dumas was born in Sweet Home, Arkansas, moved to Harlem, joined the Air Force, attended Rutgers, worked for IBM, and taught at Hiram College in Ohio and Southern Illinois University. In 1968, at the age of thirty-three, he was shot and killed by a New York Transit Authority -policeman.
Review
[Henry Dumas] had completed work, the quality and quantity of which are almost never achieved in several lifetimes. He was brilliant. He was magnetic and he was an incredible artist.[Dumas] was able to penetrate, almost like an archeologist, those areas that comprise the extraordinary, varied experiences of black people of all ages. I dont know too many young men or young people who could write about old people the way he does, or write about love the way he does, or write about very young black boys the way he does. Its extraordinary.Toni Morrison, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times
Synopsis
Henry Dumass fabulist fiction is a masterful synthesis of myth and religion, culture and nature, mask and identity. From the Deep South to the simmering streets of Harlem, his characters embark on surreal and mythic quests armed with only their wit, their words, and their wisdom. With an astonishing ear for language, Dumas creates a mythology of the psychological, spiritual, and political development of African American culture by interweaving elements of Christian metaphor, African tradition, southern folklore, American music and Americas history of slavery and endemic racism. For the first time, all of Dumas's short fiction is collected here, including several previously unpublished stories.
Synopsis
"[Henry Dumas] was brilliant. He was magnetic and he was an incredible artist. It's extraordinary." --Toni Morrison
Synopsis
Fiction. African-American Studies. Henry Dumas's fiction is a masterful synthesis of myth and religion, culture and nature, mask and identity. From the Deep South to the simmering streets of Harlem, his characters embark on surreal and mythic quests armed only with wit, words, and wisdom. Championed by Toni Morrison, Walter Mosley, and Quincy Troupe, Dumas's books have long been out of print. All of his short fiction is collected here, for the first time, and includes several previously unpublished stories.
Table of Contents
Take this river! --Ark of bones --Ark of bones --Echo tree --A boll of roses --The crossing --Double nigger --A Harlem game --Will the circle be unbroken? --Strike and fade --Fon --Rope of wind --The marchers --The eagle the dove and the blackbird --Scout --Harlem --The university of man --Rope of wind --Children of the sun --Devil bird --Invasion --The lake --The distributors --Thrust counter thrust --Six days you shall labor --The man who could see through fog --The voice --Thalia --The metagenesis of Sunra --Rain god --The bewitching bag --My brother, my brother! --The metagenesis of Sunra --Riot or revolt?