Himes, Chester (Vol. 2) - Himes, Chester 1909–
Himes, Chester 1909–
Himes, a Black American novelist and detective story writer, now lives in Spain. Many of his works were published originally in French. His best-known book is Cotton Comes to Harlem. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 25-28.)
"Blind Man With a Pistol" is less a novel than a series of dramatic incidents juxtaposed to illustrate its thesis and, incidentally, to demonstrate the most sordid realities of life in Harlem. Mr. Hime's familiars, Gravedigger and Coffin Ed, two black detectives who view life with a phlegmatic mixture of tolerance and disgust, reappear to serve as Virgilian guides….
No one can fault Mr. Himes's skill. He knows the motives for murder, the smells of sex and hatred, the accommodations desperate men must make to survive. Except for the trigger-happy camaraderie of his two detectives, his Harlem is unrelieved by any kindness between black and black or black and white. Reading "Blind...
[The entire page is 2453 words long]
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