Charles Johnson: The Novelist as Philosopher edited by Marc C. Conner
and William R. Nash with essays by Herman Beavers, Gena Chandler, Marc
C. Conner, William Gleason, William R. Nash, Linda Selzer, Gary
Storhoff, and John Whalen-Bridge In Charles Johnson: The Novelist as
Philosopher, leading scholars examine the African American author's
literary corpus and major themes, ideas, and influences. The essays
explore virtually all of Johnson's writings: each of his novels, his
numerous short stories, the range of his nonfiction essays, his many
book reviews, and even several unpublished works. These essays engage
Johnson's work from a variety of critical perspectives, revealing the
philosophical, cultural, and political implications of his writings. The
authors seek especially to understand "philosophical black fiction" and
to provide the multifocal, "whole insight" analysis Johnson's work
demands. Johnson (b. 1948)-author of Dreamer, Oxherding Tale, and the
National Book Award-winning Middle Passage-draws upon influences as
diverse as Richard Wright, Herman Melville, Thomas Aquinas, Franz Kafka,
W. E. B. Du Bois, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He combines rigorous training
in western philosophy with a lifelong practice in eastern religious and
philosophical traditions. He has repeatedly told interviewers that he
became a writer specifically to strengthen the interplay between
philosophy and fiction. Marc C. Conner is associate professor of English
at Washington and Lee University. William R. Nash is associate professor
of American studies and director of African American studies at
Middlebury College.
