Percival Everett’s Novel “James” Recenters the Story of Huck Finn

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KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In his new novel “James,” Percival Everett reimagines the story of Huck Finn through the eyes of the enslaved protagonist Jim. Where Twain used Jim as a plot device, Everett offers a fully realized portrait of the man who dreams of traveling “safely through the light of the world.” A prolific author and an English professor at USC, Everett’s earlier work inspired the film “American Fiction.” We talk to Everett about his writing, his faith in readers to understand difficult text, and this latest book, which is being lauded by critics as a new American classic. Guests: Percival Everett, author, "James"; English professor, USC - his other books include "I Am Not Sidney Poitier," "The Trees," "God's Country," and "Erasure," which was adapted for the film "American Fiction." "James" is his 34th novel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:32.1	From KQED.
0:33.2	Thank you. From KQEDY in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:48.8	Percival Everett is having a moment, as they say.
0:51.8	His book Erasure was adapted into the Academy Award-winning
0:54.8	film American Fiction, and his new novel, James, is being hailed as a new classic of our literature.
1:01.1	In James Everett retells the story of Jim, the enslaved character from the Mark Twain novel,
1:05.4	The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It's a remarkable book, both a ripping picaresque with
1:10.0	the characteristics of a Western
1:11.6	and an exploration of the racial categories that haunt this country's people and institutions.
1:16.6	We talked to Everett about the philosophy of language, his conversation with Twain, and the meaning of anger.
1:23.6	That's all coming up next, right after this news.
1:39.5	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal. We're talking this morning with the author Percival Everett about his new book, James, which occurs in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn universe, but stands distinct
1:45.8	from it. James centers the voice and experience of the character Twain called Jim, who was enslaved
	...

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