Chester Himes Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Tony Lindsay

Critical Essay by Tony Lindsay

SOURCE: Lindsay, Tony. “Expatriate Genius.” Black Issues Book Review 3, no. 6 (December 2001): 18-19.

In the following essay, Lindsay offers a tribute to Himes and a summary of his life's work.

A black man from American's heartland, Chester B. Himes (1909-1984) wandered from pre-med studies to prison to poverty and exile in Europe. Still, he became a writer's writer.

Some writers are prolific. Some display highly original thought, and others write with perceptive wit that speaks to the malice and ills of their societies. Chester Bomar Himes did all this and more. My first exposure to his work came through the 1970 film Cotton Comes to Harlem. As a youth I wasn't much concerned with the author of the original 1965 novel adapted for Ossie Davis's screen directorial debut, starring Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St. Jacques. Back then, like many young male filmgoers, I was simply thrilled by the...
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