John Edgar Wideman Libri

Un romanzo redentore e curativo, <i>Due città</i> porta a una brillante culminazione i temi che John Edgar Wideman ha sviluppato in quattordici precedenti opere acclamate. È una storia di ponti - ponti che attraversano i fiumi di Philadelphia e Pittsburgh, ponti che si arcuano sopra le fratture che hanno diviso le nostre comunità, il nostro paese, i nostri cuori. <br /><br />Narrato nelle voci blues dei suoi tre personaggi principali, <i>Due città</i> è una semplice storia d'amore, ma parla anche della sopravvivenza di una comunità nera urbana in pericolo e dei modi in cui le persone scoprono come redimersi in una società che le sta deludendo. Con le sue immagini indelebili di confronto e indignazione, accompagnate in misura uguale da impressioni durature di speranza, <i>Due città</i> è un romanzo compassionevole, lacerante e nutriente.

A stunning collection of all new stories from the twice winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award - essential reading for understanding the state of America today

Edgar Wideman’s The Homewood Books comprises two novels, Hiding Place and Sent for You Yesterday, along with the short story collection Damballah, all set in the Homewood section of Pittsburgh, where Wideman grew up. In his introduction, Wideman emphasizes that these works explore not just a physical location but a culture and perspective on identity. Hiding Place features three central voices: Bess, who mourns her son lost to war and lives a reclusive life; Tommy, a man wrongfully accused of murder; and Clement, a young boy delivering goods to Bess. Damballah presents a powerful collection of interrelated stories that span a century in Homewood, celebrating a community that supports one another with grace and dignity amid adversity. Sent for You Yesterday, awarded the 1984 PEN/Faulkner Award, follows the narrator Doot as he recounts the interconnected lives of Homewood's residents—Lucy, Brother Tate, Albert Wilkes, Carl French, and their families—tracing their experiences from the blues-infused 1920s to the drug-affected 1970s. Together, these works provide a rich tapestry of life in Homewood, revealing the resilience and complexity of its community.

Reuben is an aging, wizened, slightly humpbacked black man. He lives in an abandoned trailer so cluttered with the detritus of his sixty years that visitors can scarcely find him amid the litter. Yet Reuben is also intelligent-street smart and plain smart-kind, thoughtful and possessed of an extraordinarily sharp legal mind. As a lawyer, he is the go between for the poor black of Homewood who must deal with the authorities' downtown. (Taken from inside front jacket).

Fifty-seven short stories drawn from past collections celebrate the lifelong significance of this major American writer's essential contribution to a form--illuminating the ways that he has made it his own.

“A rare triumph” (The New York Times Book Review), this powerful memoir about the divergent paths taken by two brothers is a classic work from one of the greatest figures in American literature: a reflection on John Edgar Wideman’s family and his brother’s incarceration—a classic that is as relevant now as when originally published in 1984. A “brave and brilliant” (The Philadelphia Inquirer) portrait of lives arriving at different destinies, the classic John Edgar Wideman memoir, Brothers and Keepers, is a haunting portrait of two brothers—one an award-winning writer, the other a fugitive wanted for a robbery that resulted in a murder. Wideman recalls the capture of his younger brother, Robby, details the subsequent trials that resulted in a sentence of life in prison, and provides vivid views of the American prison system. A gripping, unsettling account, Brothers and Keepers weighs the bonds of blood, affection, and guilt that connect Wideman and his brother and measures the distance that lies between them. “If you care at all about brotherhood and dignity…this is a must-read book” (The Denver Post). With a new afterword by his brother Robert Wideman, recently released after more than fifty years in prison.

Frantz Fanon's life and legacy serve as the backdrop for a contemporary African American novelist's project to write about him. The narrative weaves through various locations, including Manhattan, Paris, and Algeria, blending genres such as whodunit, screenplay, and love story. As the novelist explores Fanon's impact on liberation movements and confronts the persistent racism and oppression in a post-9/11 world, the story also introduces notable figures like French director Jean-Luc Godard, creating an electrifying commentary on Fanon's enduring relevance.

Eleven people – five of them children – are killed in west Philadelphia when 6221 Osage Avenue is bombed out of existence. One small boy is seen to escape the fire. From his life of self-exile on an island in the Aegean, Cudjoe mourns the child until it becomes an obsession, leading him home, forcing him to face up to his own profound alienation and to the wrenching realities of his native land. He searches for the boy and, as he does so, he searches out his own past. Reconstructing his life plunges him backwards into memories both personal and communal, forwards inch by inch into a city fast becoming a nightmare. ‘Wideman’s novel succeeds through raw emotion and a linguistic versatility . . . Written in a sinewy language which also combines reportage, Philadelphia Fire operates as parable and social document’ Irish Times ‘Philadelphia Fire is a welter of fine writing, sociological observation, polemical address and messianic prophecy . . . A literary novel in the grand contemporary, postmodern, literary style’ New Statesman & Society ‘Unquestionably the foremost chronicler of the urban African-American experience. A master storyteller, Wideman is both a witness and a prophet’ Caryl Phillips

Each fall The Best American Short Stories provides a fresh showcase for this rich and unpredictable form. Selected from an unusually wide variety of publications, John Edgar Wideman's choices for 1996 place stories from esteemed national magazines alongside those from some of the smallest and most innovative literary journals. Dazzling new work from favorite authors includes Mary Gordon's" Intertextuality," in which a sentence by Proust propels the narrator into an intricate portrait of her Irish American grandmother. From Robert Olen Butler comes the wry and warm tale" Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot," in which a man learns the consequences of marital distrust. Alice Adams employs her customary finesse to contrast the stinging vulnerability of early adolescence with the burdens and pleasures of midlife. Including contributions from Joyce Carol Oates, Lynn Sharon Schwartz, Rick Bass, and an array of stunning new talent, The Best American Short Stories 1996 is a rewarding, en

Set against the backdrop of plague-stricken eighteenth-century Philadelphia, a young black preacher embarks on a quest to find a mysterious African woman, facing the harsh realities of a society divided by race. The narrative intertwines personal struggle with historical themes, echoing the Xhosa people's ritual of cattle killing as a symbol of resistance to European oppression. This journey explores the complexities of love and identity across America, Europe, and South Africa, weaving together past and present in a poignant reflection on societal divides.