The Intuitionist (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Colson Whitehead
- First Published: 1999
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: The 1950’s
- Setting: New York
- Principal Characters: Lila Mae Watson, James Fulton, Pompey, Mr. Reed, Frank Chancre, Ben Urich, Raymond Coombs, Marie Claire Rogers
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Racism, Learning or scholarship, Elevators
- Locales: New York
Lila Mae Watson is the first female elevator inspector in the history of the unnamed city that forms the backdrop in Colson Whitehead’s intriguing first novel. The city is clearly New York, and the period is the 1950’s. Onto that realistic setting, however, Whitehead has grafted an astonishing fictional world centering around the philosophical disputes and political infighting in the city’s Department of Elevator Inspectors. An election is coming up for the department chair, and the two candidates contesting it belong to different wings of the Elevator Inspectors’ Guild. Frank...
[The entire page is 1795 words long]
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