Browse all of the Salem on Literature series

Brothers and Keepers (Masterplots II: African American Literature Series)

At a glance:

  • Author: John Edgar Wideman
  • First Published: 1984
  • Type of Work: Autobiography/biography
  • Time of Work: Primarily 1960–1982
  • Setting: Laramie, Wyoming; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Detroit, Michigan; Western State Penitentiary, Pennsylvania
  • Principal Characters: John Edgar Wideman, Robert, Edgar Wideman, Bette Wideman, Garth, Michael, Stavros
  • Genres: Nonfiction
  • Subjects: African Americans
  • Locales: Detroit, MI

Form and Content

In an author’s note, John Edgar Wideman states that Brothers and Keepers is “an attempt to capture a process that began in earnest about four years ago: my brother and I talking about our lives.” The author’s desire to understand the remarkable divergence in the arcs of those lives lies at the heart of the book. While the two brothers grew up in the same household just ten years apart, John became a star athlete, university professor, and celebrated author, while Robby was sentenced to life in prison for armed robbery and murder without...

[The entire page is 2995 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

Lookup any word on eNotes with our dictionary. Highlight the word and press SHIFT + D for a definition, or SHIFT + T for a synonym.