“James” by Percival Everett
James came to my attention based on overwhelming critical and popular praise generated over the past several months. It appeared on basically all the respected 2024 Best Books and Top Ten lists. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Economist and The Washington Post were effusive in their reviews. Heck, it was honoured with a spot on Barack Obama’s Books of the Year and the former President and I have similar reading tastes (kudos to him). In addition, the literature world aristocracy loved the book. It is on the short list for the Booker Prize and was awarded the Kirkus Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction. Closer to home, friends, family and book club aficiandos in my social circle universally recommended the book. Widespread admiration gives you a comfort level when you select a book, but can also create unreasonably high expectations that aren’t always satisfied by the finished product. Unfortunately, that phenomena is not unusual. Luckily, my experience here was incredibly positive. The book is well written, the prose is stylish and crisp and the narrative delivers a powerful and provocative message. I enthusiastically endorse the work. No reservations!
The plot is bold. I imagine Mr Everett’s editors did not view the chosen narrative as a “slam dunk” sales wise. It is a re-engineering, a re-imagination of Mark Twain’s 19th century classic- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The initial challenge for me was rekindling my recollection of the Twain original. Like most American baby boomers, I read both Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in my formative years. Unfortunately, for me, that is approximately 55 years ago and even my gifted powers of recall are challenged by a half century passage of time. I know I liked the book back then. Huck was a wild child fleeing a nasty Dad in pre civil war Missouri. He was curious, fun loving, young and a quick study in a “street smarts” sort of way. Jim was
a runaway slave fleeing an owner who intended to sell him. Huck Finn is the story of their journey together down the Mississippi River. Huck is the main character with Jim in a supporting role. They bond, are separated and then reunite. The story belongs to Huck. Twain was very descriptive, funny, even hilarious in describing the idiosyncrasies of the American South in the 1840’s.
Everett’s ploy is to mirror the narrative of Twain’s book, but Jim, now James, is the lead character and Huck is a second fiddle player who pops in and out of the narrative. The voice of the story is James and all events are presented from his perspective. There is a minimum of staging or setting descriptions. Instead, the book is primarily a series of dialogues between James and a wide assortment of characters, both white and black. James is a MAN IN FULL, a nuanced mentor and role model. He is literate, speaks the King’s English, sophisticated with measured judgment. He is good husband and father and has the capacity to adjust to the challenging circumstances created by his status as a slave. He teaches other slaves how to survive in the real world. He ultimately becomes a warrior for justice. The world is cruel and nasty and the slave system is entrenched and blacks are viewed as subhuman by their white masters. He communicates in visions with Locke and Voltaire and challenges them to explain why there progressive enlightened principles of justice, liberty and freedom don’t apply to blacks in America. The actual white people encountered on the river are rogues gallery; Fraudsters, swindlers, crooks, charlatans, abusive overseers and finally slave breeders. White supremacy is a cruel joke- a theatre of the absurd. Everett introduces a new character, the author of “Dixie": and the creator of the Virginia Minstrels, the first white musical group to perform in blackface. James interaction with them is ultra amusing. Everett definitely seeks to copy Twain’s commitment to using humour to highlight colourful characters and bizarre situations.
Everett’s editorial choices work. He wisely builds upon Twain’s original portrayal of “Nigger Jim.” Jim is a good guy. He is mild mannered, loyal, honourable, honest and a good companion for Huck. He is human, not a caricature. Twain was certainly challenging the commonly held perception of blacks in America- unintelligent, childlike, silly, dependent and irresponsible. Twains Jim is an attack on that stereotype, shows the idiocy and inherent injustice of the slave system. To that extent, Twain is progressive and he was viewed as a rabble rouser when the book was released in 1885. He does associate Jim with some less desirable qualities. Jim is gullible and superstitious, but his fundamental humanity shines through. Obviously, Everett fleshes out Jim in his presentation of James. The question for the reading audience is obvious. Isn’t Everett showing the suppressed potential of all blacks during the slavery and Jim Crow era. James is what many black men could have been if they had been properly educated- if they had not been lynched- if their families had not been separated! The tragedy of all the lost opportunities and the lost souls is the underlying message off the novel. The ending is powerful and has an element of Django Unchained type violence. James aggressively confronts the evildoers and justice is done. You feel good about James and hope he and his family survive and prosper. The ending is a radical departure from Twain’s rather silly treatment of Jim by Tom Sawyer and his buddies in the closing chapter of Huckleberry Finn. I like the ending in James better.
I will take the liberty of sharing some general observations on lessons from the book. Twain and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have been under rather sustained assault in the American Academy. The charge is the book promotes negative racial stereotypes of blacks and is demeaning in its liberal use of the term “nigger.” It is used by Twain 239 times! Modern scholars don’t accept the concept that Twain’s original audience thought the book was overly sympathetics to blacks. The standards of enlightenment on racial and civil rights issues have certainly changed in the last 120 years, but the movement to ban the book or change the language is misguided and wrong. Twain brilliantly used the vernacular in use at the time. It is part of the story. A new moving politically correct target is silly- people aren’t that sensitive. Blacks today will not experience permanent psychological damage if they learned that whites used to use slurs when describing them. Trust me, they are aware!
The backstory on Mr Everett’s career is fascinating. He is “hot” in the world of literature today, but he is not an overnight success. He has been a serious writer for 40 years with a loyal following. He is a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. However his fame is a rather recent phenomena. His novel Erasure was the basis of the highly successful film, American Fiction, starring Jeffrey Wright. His last novel before James was The Trees which was also a finalist for the Booker Prize. I need to go back and read his earlier efforts. I do think American Fiction had autobiographical overtones for Mr Everett. The protagonist was a serious author labouring in relative obscurity until he pens a ghetto rap novel about the black experience that meets the expectations and unconscious biases of white readers. Everett’s James is certainly making white readers happy so perhaps his choice of subject matter is a bit of an inside joke. If so, well done Percival!
