Erasure (novel)
Erasure is a 2001 novel by American writer Percival Everett. It was originally published by the University Press of New England. The novel reacts against the dominant strains of discussion related to the publication and criticism of African-American literature, and was later adapted by Cord Jefferson into a film titled American Fiction, starring Jeffrey Wright.[1]
| Author | Percival Everett |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Satire |
| Publisher | UPNE |
Publication date | 2001 |
| ISBN | 9781584651604 |
Upon its release, the novel was widely praised by critics, and in 2024, was listed on The Atlantic's The Great American Novels list.[2]
Plot edit
Erasure's protagonist, Thelonious "Monk" Ellison, a professor of English literature and novelist, is in a rut. He writes novels that are highly academic, and philosophical, often with reference to Greek mythology and literary theory. The book establishes itself during a trip to DC, where Ellison presents a paper to a literary society. During the visit, he witnesses his aging mother, now cared for full-time by his sister, suffering from declining memory and health issues.
Ellison struggles to get his books published because, as his agent repeatedly explains to him, publishing houses don't believe his writing to be "black enough". Ellison is also confronted with the success of a novel called We's Lives In Da Ghetto, by first-time writer Juanita Mae Jenkins; despite Ellison finding the book full of cliches and lazy stereotypes, it becomes a best seller and makes Jenkins an instant critical darling. Ellison's sister dies unexpectedly, and he moves to DC to replace her as his mother's caregiver.
Frustrated with his job prospects in DC, Ellison sits down to write a "black" novel that will be palatable to the publishers. Using the assumed identity of a black convict, Monk quickly composes a satirical response to Jenkins' text, based in part on Richard Wright's Native Son (1940) and Sapphire's Push (1996). He calls his own novel My Pafology, before changing its title to simply Fuck.
My Pafology is written in ten chapters, as a novel within a novel. The plot is an exaggerated story of a young black man who has several babies by different women whom he abuses as he falls into a life of crime and delinquency with his friends. The dialogue is deliberately written in a style that relies heavily on African-American English and phonetic spellings that reflect that variety of English.
To Ellison's shock, his agent is able to quickly get a publishing deal for My Pafology, earning him half a million-dollars in advance fees. The work quickly becomes his best-selling work to date and gets optioned by a film producer. Throughout the process of selling and optioning the film, Ellison fashions a persona as the convicted "author" in order to maintain his credibility.
In his personal life, his mother's mental health goes downhill. They take a "last vacation" to their weekend home on the Chesapeake, where Ellison briefly strikes up a relationship with a local woman. At the end of the novel, Ellison wins a major publishing award for the success of My Pafology, but is shown to already be suffering from a similar mental decline as his mother.
Structure edit
The Guardian review described the book as a "skilful, extended parody of ghetto novels such as Sapphire's Push."[3]
Reception edit
The novel was well received. Darryl Pinckney's review in The Guardian focused on the dark comedy that Erasure represents, describing it as moving towards "bleakest comedy" and "sly work."[3] Ready Steady Book focused on the novel being "full of anger" about the African-American literary establishment and said that the most redeeming elements of the plot come from a "moving portrait of a son coming to terms with his mother's life."[4]
Erasure won the inaugural Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in 2002.[5]
Film adaptation edit
After receiving literary praise for the novel, Everett was initially reluctant to license the novel for adaptation.[6] American filmmaker Cord Jefferson however, presented a compelling case for an adaptation and the changes to the plot and story in the script satisfied Everett. [7]
After several years of production, the film adaption was released in 2023 under the film titled American Fiction, written and directed by Jefferson and starring Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, Erika Alexander, Sterling K. Brown, and Leslie Uggams.[1] The film won the Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival that year.[8] The film received five nominations at the 96th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and won Best Adapted Screenplay.[9]
References edit
- ^ a b Willmore, Alison (September 10, 2023). "We're Going to Be Talking About This Book-World Satire All Fall". Vulture. from the original on September 25, 2023. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
- ^ "The Great American Novels". The Atlantic. March 14, 2024. from the original on April 24, 2024. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
- ^ a b Pinckney, Darryl (April 18, 2003). "Colour bind – Percival Everett's new novel, Erasure, is an intriguing, richly layered satire on the commercialisation of literary culture, says Darryl Pinckney". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. from the original on September 10, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
- ^ Tripney, Natasha (February 5, 2010). "Erasure by Percival Everett". Ready Steady Book. from the original on September 2, 2014. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
- ^ "The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award". African American Literature Book Club. from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
- ^ Bell, Carole V. (December 12, 2023). "Advice from a critic: Read 'Erasure' before seeing 'American Fiction'". NPR. from the original on April 29, 2024. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
- ^ Uwagba, Otegha (January 28, 2024). "How Cord Jefferson turned a novel about race into American Fiction – the year's buzziest comedy". The Guardian. ISSN 0029-7712. from the original on March 22, 2024. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
- ^ Pulver, Andrew (September 18, 2023). "Literary satire American Fiction takes Toronto film festival's top award". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. from the original on February 27, 2024. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
- ^ Clark, Jason (February 6, 2024). "'American Fiction' Oscar Nominee Cord Jefferson Says He Stills Feels Like a Journalist at Heart". TheWrap. from the original on February 9, 2024. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
Further reading edit
- Russett, Margaret (2005). "Race Under Erasure". Callaloo. 28 (2): 358–368. doi:10.1353/cal.2005.0059. ISSN 1080-6512. S2CID 162296410. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
- Eaton, Kimberly (2006). "Deconstructing the Narrative: Language, Genre, and Experience in Erasure" (PDF). Nebula. 3 (2/3): 220–232.
- Moynihan, Sinead (2008). "Living Parchments, Human Documents: Racial Identity and Authorship in Percival Everett's Erasure and Hannah Crafts' The Bondwoman". Engaging Tradition, Making It New: Essays on Teaching Recent African American Literature. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 103–21. ISBN 9781847185280.