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LeVar Burton Reads

"Graham Greene" by Percival Everett

LeVar Burton Reads

Stitcher

Arts, Performing Arts

4.917K Ratings

🗓️ 18 July 2017

⏱️ 50 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A man is contacted by a 102-year-old woman with an unusual and seemingly impossible request. "Graham Greene" appears in Percival Everett's collection HALF AN INCH OF WATER, available from Graywolf Press.Thanks to our presenting sponsor Audible. Start your free trial and get a free audiobook at audible.com/levar.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, I'm Lovar Burton and this is Lovar Burton Reads.

0:10.4

It's where I hand pick a different piece of short fiction and read it to you every episode

0:14.7

and the only thing that these stories have in common is that I love them and I hope you

0:20.0

will too.

0:24.0

Today, I'm going to bring you a story from the American West, Wyoming specifically,

0:31.2

and the story is called Graham Greene.

0:33.6

Even the title of this story plays very prominently in the narrative.

0:39.1

The story is by one of my favorite authors, Percival Everett, from his collection called

0:43.5

Half an Inge of Water from Greywolf Press.

0:47.3

Percival Everett is a really interesting writer and this is a very surprising kind of story.

0:55.1

Percival loves keeping his reader a little bit off balance as he certainly does in this story.

0:59.9

He loves playing around with the reader's expectations and assumptions.

1:04.7

He's literally written a series of murder mystery novellas called Assumption about the

1:10.0

assumptions that people make when they're investigating something.

1:14.0

I'll note here that Percival is a black man, not that it matters, but I mention it because

1:19.7

Percival as a writer loves to poke at what people's expectations of what a black man's writing

1:26.2

is or is going to be.

1:28.8

So, keep that in mind.

1:30.8

He's written a comic novel called I Am Not Sydney Poitier, which has a character in it

1:36.8

who's actually called Not Sydney Poitier.

1:41.5

That gives you a little insight into Percival's humor.

1:48.2

Percival's writing is filled with interesting references and this is no exception.

...

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