Charles Johnson on Genre-Defying Fiction, Middle Passage, and the Invisible Dimensions of Black Life
By
Interviewed by Cary Goldstein
Summary
An in-depth interview with acclaimed novelist Charles Johnson, focusing on his National Book Award-winning novel Middle Passage and his broader literary philosophy. The piece explores Johnson's genre-defying approach to fiction, blending nautical epic, fairy tale, parable, picaresque, and Vedic myths. It examines his views on black life and literature, his creative process, and his place in the American literary tradition, with references to Conrad, Melville, Swift, and Ellison.
Source
Twitter / XCharles Johnson on Genre-Defying Fiction, Middle Passage, and the Invisible Dimensions of Black Lifetheparisreview.orgKey quotes
· 3 pulledI know that black life, like all life, outstrips our perceptions, that so much of black life still remains—to invoke Ellison here—invisible, unseen.
Middle Passage, winner of the National Book Award for Fiction in 1990, defies genre.
Such transgressions of form suffuse Johnson's fiction.
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