If He Hollers Let Him Go by
Chester Himes
pbk out February 99
(Serpent's Tail)
at £6.99
Chester Himes published this novel, his first, in 1945, when he was
almost fifty, and it was immediately recognized as a masterpiece. It is
a powerful piece of work which pulls no punches in its quest to portray
how it feels, day after day, to be a black male in America during the
nineteen forties.
Sixty years later the novel has lost none of its punch, and on
re-reading this Serpent's Tail edition I had to keep putting it down to
take a breather. The white world, against which the hero, Robert Jones,
is constantly pitted, is relentless in the defence of its perceived
superiority in almost every aspect of life.
Chester Himes was a strong influence on Walter Mosley, and it is
difficult to imagine the Easy Rawlins novels without the example of
Himes. 'All I ever wanted was just a little thing,' Robert Jones, the hero of
If He Hollers Let Him Go, tells us. 'Just to be a man.'
But there is a sense right from the very beginning of this novel that
Robert Jones wants too much from the society into which he was born.
Maybe that is why Chester Himes packed his bags and moved to Europe
after the war? To find a place where 'just being a man' wasn't
altogether impossible. I don't know if he found it in Paris, where he
spent most of his time. He was resident there in the fifties, at the
same time as James Baldwin.
If you're looking for something light and frothy, this book won't fill
the bill. If you want something truly revolutionary and as cocky as
hell, something that'll get you by the throat and won't let go, I can't
think of anything better.
(
John Baker
- author of the Sam Turner mysteries and one of Britain's most highly acclaimed writers)
If He Hollers Let Him Go by
Chester Himes