Several of the central characters in his early novels are black males who commit murder and who are sexually and ambivalently obsessed with white women. Nearly all are defeated or victimized by a universe that is absurd, unpredictable, and irrational.
One can best understand Himes's fictional viewpoint by beginning with his two volumes of autobiography, The Quality of Hurt (1972) and My Life of Absurdity (1977). Making no attempt to court favor, Himes recounts the hostile, loveless family atmosphere of his youth. His father, a blacksmithing teacher at small Southern colleges, battled continuously with Himes's light-skinned mother until at last they divorced. The only solace for Himes was his love for his brilliant brother, Joe, who was blinded at an early age in an accident for which Himes partly blamed himself. Himes was thrown out of Ohio State University for his part in a speakeasy brawl in 1927 and began working as a bellhop in Cleveland. The following year he was arrested for burglary and passing bad checks, but got off with probation. At nineteen, Himes committed an armed robbery and was sentenced to twenty years in prison; he was released in 1936 at the age of twenty-six. The following year he married Jean Johnson, his longtime sweetheart, but they were divorced fourteen years later.
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