In the following essay, Muller traces the development of Himes's detective fiction.

In the following essay, Newton deconstructs and compares the idea of facial “recognition” in Himes's If He Hollers Let Him Go and Saul Bellow's The Victim.

In the following essay, Walters traces Himes's representation of "the absurdity of U.S. race relations" in his fiction.

In the following essay, Crooks analyzes the frontier mentality in the detective fiction of Chester Himes and Walter Mosley.

In the following essay, Glasrud and Champion examine Himes's World War II-era short stories, novels, and essays, which reveal the effects of racism on both African Americans and other minorities during this period.

In the following essay, Braham compares the detective novels of Himes and Mexican writer Paco Ignacio Taibo II, arguing that each seeks to regain control of radical and popular history and to redefine their discourses.

In the following essay, Storhoff traces “Oedipal” themes in the two volumes of Himes's autobiography, noting that Himes repudiates not only his familial and literary “fathers” but also the traditional form of autobiography itself.

In the following essay, Rosen discusses the presence of anti-Semitism in Himes's Lonely Crusade and its sources and implications.

In the following essay, Cochran points out the ways in which Himes's detective novels show the dark side of American capitalism and a violent, absurd vision of the nation.

In the following interview, originally published in 1983 and translated from French by Fabre, Himes discusses topics such as the influence of his largely expatriate life on his writing, settings and themes in his stories, his interest in sexual psychology, and writers who have influenced his work.

In the following essay, Cochran discusses the portrayal of racial tensions in Himes's fiction and states that "Himes viewed race as a dialectical relationship which progressed toward increasing absurdity."

In the following essay, Sante discuses the effects of exile, translation, and genre on Himes's work.

In the following essay, Alter analyzes the role of Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed as mediators between the white world of the law and the black world of the streets in Himes's detective fiction.

In the following essay, Gair uses references to the idiom of jazz in Cotton Comes to Harlem to point to the multitude of cultural meanings in the novel.

In the following essay, Skinner analyzes two early Himes novels, If He Hollers Let Him Go and Lonely Crusade, comparing them to the works of such Los Angeles writers as James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler.

In the following essay, Reckley analyzes Himes's use of doubles in his Lonely Crusade by looking at three of his black male characters, Lee Gordon, Lester McKinley, and Luther McGregor.

In the following essay, Kelly gives an overview of Himes's life and work.

In the following essay, Rand discusses Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, Richard Wright's Native Son, and Himes's If He Hollers Let Him Go as examples of the development of the naturalistic novel.

In the following review, Bell discusses subjects such as Himes's views on violence in American culture and the exploitation of the African American writer.

In the following essay, Reckley discusses the role of the Oedipal Complex and intraracial conflict in the family relationships of Himes's The Third Generation.

Chester Himes began writing Tough-Guy fiction in 1957,… and the most striking of his "new angles" is the fact that his stories take place almost entirely in Black America. The detectives, the setting, the themes, the plots, and the viewpoint are all Black. (p. 936) In several ways Himes' nine Harlem novels constitute a cycle. Characters reappear, predominantly his two police detectives Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones, similar events occur, and incidents and persons in on...

The bitter laugh of the dedicated satirist runs through much of Himes's work, but nowhere is there to be found the limpid moral certainty of the greatest satirists. And Himes's laughter is jubilant and gay as often as it is bitter. His favorite subject was pain, and it screams in naked release on almost every page he has written, but justice, easily the most turgid and pompous of literary subjects, is invoked only slightly less often. (p. 4)

In the following essay, Reed reminisces about Himes's last visit to America in 1972, noting that Himes was never well-accepted by the literary establishment at home.

Just as [his] earlier fiction was neither as solemn nor monotone as had casually been supposed so Himes's use of the thriller genre, ostensibly all pantomime and knock-about, could be seen to mask serious and long-held preoccupations. In changing from high to popular form Himes hadn't altered his basic sense of direction. But if his themes have arguably been of a piece, Himes's overall achievement presents more difficult problems. His very best writing can give way to weaknesses of a qu...

In the following review, Roget asserts that "Chester Himes's autobiography offers invaluable literary witness to the multifaceted black experience in America and abroad."

In the following essay, Turner comments on the mixture of violence and humor in Himes's detective fiction.

In the following review, Miller favorably reviews The Collected Stories of Chester Himes.

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

Himes in [his detective fiction] sees Harlem as the intensification, the logical absurdity, the comic horror of the black experience in America. And not naturally, Himes draws on his own violent American years as being symptomatic of that experience. (p. 1) What Himes seems to draw mainly from his American background—middle class, working class, lumpen lower class and criminal years—is that the one central fact of the black man's life in America is violence…. Himes, despite the s...

In the following review, Payne asserts that "The generously conceived and readable Collected Stories will facilitate fuller critical response to Himes, and it should enhance his appeal to general readers."