Alright, I know I generally do graphic publications but this is an author that deserves some greater renown. Percival Everett is a writer's writer. If you think you have a firm grasp on the English language then tread into his arena. He's a Professor of English and has published a great many novels and short stories. A brief list, incase you're struck with interest, of his work is: I Am Not Sidney Poitier, The Water Cure, Wounded, Assumption, Glyph, Big Picture and Damned If I Do. The list can go on but I can only be entertained by making lists for so long. Everett is a black author that makes a point of dissolving racial expectations. Generally he does so by showing non-stereotypical settings for black characters. Think Midwest, country, mountains, ranches, farms and small towns. If this technique is not at play then race very well may be muddled; never defined for the protagonist nor the narrator. This works towards questioning the preconceived concepts about race that the reader, you and I, bring to the text. But enough of that, onto Erasure.
This is a book about race. There is no way around the topic. The protagonist's name is Thelonius "Monk" Ellison. To cement the understanding let's break down the immediate construction of the character. Thelonius Monk, as many should know, was a very renown Jazz musician. The kind who pushed open the rules and structures. Frequently the listener discovers that they do not listen to Monk as much as simply experience the wall of sound. Ellison refers to Ralph Ellison the author of the ground-breaking novel Invisible Man. If you haven't read it I fully encourage that you do so. It's a ride. Not a short one but a very good one. The identity of the protagonist, then, becomes a play back and forth between two iconic black figures in the arts.
As much as this is a novel about race it is also one about writers. The protagonist is published and his career is based off writing little read works that tend to seep with pedantic nuances particular to the academy. Everett's central stress in the novel circulates around the protagonist's latest publication, an incredibly self-inflicted racist novel first entitled My Pafology and then retitled Fuck: A Novel. This publication is presented in full at the direct center of the novel leaving the reader with no mystery as to the offensive quality of the writing. Everett uses this to shove back against works such as Sapphire's Push, novels that exploit unbelievable situations and present them as common thus tinting the publics understanding about an entire race.
There are emotional issues at play in the novel as well for those interested in domestic drama. Inter-family relationships, personal relationships, attempts to find a significant other. At every turn the concept of writing, publishing, and reading intercede though. No matter which way the narrative begins to bend the arc is always true.
Although many interesting and important topics can be presented from Erasure there is one that strikes most openly to me. Everett offers an interior look at a problem within academics. For those unaware American Literature is not as simple as stating, "American Literature." The category is subdivided for reasons that are both reasonable and racist. So what we, as the public, end up with are areas of American Literature (predominately white, male, authors), Women's Literature (guess who the authors are), African American Literature (relatively self-descriptive), Native American Literature, Asian American Literature (the category assumes Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai Americans all share a universal experience) and the list of these subdivisions could go on and on. Find a large bookstore and waltz on in, you're likely to discover such divisions. What Everett presents is the problem that these create. His protagonist in Erasure is outraged to discover that his work, contemporary renderings of classical pieces, is filed away under African American Literature. Those looking for his work would not look there, likewise those looking in that section will more likely than not be uninterested in his work. The complication this creates becomes the driving force for the exploitative work that the character writes.
Everett is an author who can make the reader laugh and think in the same moment. He does not hesitate to bring important racial questions into his work while creating memorable narratives outside of the confines of those questions. I did not go through much summarization because this is a book that shouldn't be ruined by me giving spoilers. There are twists, turns, moments of the surreal and moments that are entirely relatable. This, as well as his other works, I highly encourage experiencing at least once.