As a literary and intellectual heir to Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright, Charles Johnson articulates in his work the struggles of Africa Americans' lives without denying its fundamental Americanness. This book, compiled by Emory University Professor Rudolph P. Byrd, contains 25 years' worth of Johnson's essays, poetry, cartoons, reviews, novel excerpts, interviews, and critiques. In the autobiographical essay that titles the book, Johnson cites the influences of Sartre, Malraux, and Melville in his attempt to forge a "genuinely black American fiction." In other works, Johnson investigates the worldwide image of black people, takes on Spike Lee and Dinesh D'Souza, and illuminates Martin Luther King's faded dream. Other writers--including Stanley Crouch, Vera Kutzinski, and Ashraf H.A. Rushdy--examine the richness and depth of Johnson's fictional characters and their cultural and human adversities. "As a symbol and agent of the process of communication, of communion," Byrd writes, "Johnson is a writer of our age whose message will deliver him, whole and engaging, to readers whose interests are as varied and whose questions are as urgent as his own." --Eugene Holley Jr.


Book Description
Charles Johnson is one of the most talented artists currently working in America. All of his novels have been widely praised and read. Middle Passage won the National Book Award and established Johnson in the tradition of Ralph Ellison, one of his idols. In 1998 he was the recipient of one of the prestigious MacArthur "Genius" awards. Though best known for his fiction, Johnson is also an accomplished essayist, reviewer, scriptwriter, and cartoonist. This collection gathers together a rich sampling of his work, including stories, speeches, cartoons, and interviews. A final section contains scholarly commentary by leading academic writers. I Call Myself an Artist provides a fascinating overview of the life work of one of America's most important creative minds.


About the Author
Rudolph P. Byrd is Associate Professor of American Studies and Director of the Program of African American Studies at Emory University. He is author of Jean Toomer's Years With Gurdjieff and the forthcoming book Black Philosophical Fiction: The Art and Imagination of Charles Johnson. He is also the editor of Essentials by Jean Toomer and Generations in Black and White: Photographs by Carl Van Vechten from the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection.

FROM THE PUBLISHER