#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER - ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR - SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE - KIRKUS PRIZE WINNER - A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view In development as a feature film to be produced by Steven Spielberg - A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times Book Review, LA Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist, TIME, and more. "Genius"--The Atlantic - "A masterpiece that will help redefine one of the classics of American literature, while also being a major achievement on its own."--Chicago Tribune - "A provocative, enlightening literary work of art."--The Boston Globe - "Everett's most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful."--The New York Times
When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river's banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin...), Jim's agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light. Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a "literary icon" (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER - ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR - SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE - KIRKUS PRIZE WINNER - A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view In development as a feature film to be produced by Steven Spielberg - A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times Book Review, LA Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist, TIME, and more. "Genius"--The Atlantic - "A masterpiece that will help redefine one of the classics of American literature, while also being a major achievement on its own."--Chicago Tribune - "A provocative, enlightening literary work of art."--The Boston Globe - "Everett's most thrilling novel, but also his most soulful."--The New York Times
When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river's banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin...), Jim's agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light. Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a "literary icon" (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.
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Find James Percival Everett in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
Find James Percival Everett in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
2 books in catalog
Satirical fiction, philosophical parables, revisionist westerns, and reimagined American classics reflect a wide range of storytelling traditions, notably seen in novels like Erasure and James. Percival Everett has built an extensive bibliography across multiple decades, consistently examining issues of race, identity, logic, and literary form in the United States while defying traditional genre boundaries.
Born in Fort Gordon, Georgia, in 1956 and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, Everett earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Miami before completing graduate coursework in philosophy at the University of Oregon and earning a Master of Arts in fiction from Brown University in 1982. He subsequently joined academia, serving on the faculties of the University of Kentucky, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of California, Riverside, before becoming a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. In his university role, he teaches courses in creative writing, American studies, and critical theory, describing himself as a demanding instructor who learns alongside his students. Over his career, he has earned prestigious recognition, including the Academy Award for Literature of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the New American Writing Award for his 1990 novel Zulus, the PEN/Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature for his 1996 story collection Big Picture, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for his 2001 novel Erasure, and the PEN USA 2006 Literary Award for his 2005 novel Wounded. Additionally, he served as a judge for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 1991 and the 1997 National Book Award for fiction.
Characterized by structural experimentation and ironical humor, Everett's writing spans a remarkable range of forms, including a farcical Western, a savage satire of the publishing industry, a children's story spoofing counting books, retellings of Greek myths involving Medea and Dionysus, and a philosophical tract narrated by a four-year-old child. Critics have frequently noted his adventurous narrative approach; The Washington Post described him as 'one of the most adventurously experimental of modern American novelists,' while The Boston Globe wrote that 'He's literature's NASCAR champion, going flat out, narrowly avoiding one seemingly inevitable crash only to steer straight for the next.' Everett writes extensively about subjects that provoke his curiosity, frequently blending semiotics, critical theory, absurd humor, and sharp social commentary to challenge readers' expectations regarding African American identity and cultural categorization.
2 books in catalog
Satirical fiction, philosophical parables, revisionist westerns, and reimagined American classics reflect a wide range of storytelling traditions, notably seen in novels like Erasure and James. Percival Everett has built an extensive bibliography across multiple decades, consistently examining issues of race, identity, logic, and literary form in the United States while defying traditional genre boundaries.
Born in Fort Gordon, Georgia, in 1956 and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, Everett earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Miami before completing graduate coursework in philosophy at the University of Oregon and earning a Master of Arts in fiction from Brown University in 1982. He subsequently joined academia, serving on the faculties of the University of Kentucky, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of California, Riverside, before becoming a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. In his university role, he teaches courses in creative writing, American studies, and critical theory, describing himself as a demanding instructor who learns alongside his students. Over his career, he has earned prestigious recognition, including the Academy Award for Literature of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the New American Writing Award for his 1990 novel Zulus, the PEN/Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature for his 1996 story collection Big Picture, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for his 2001 novel Erasure, and the PEN USA 2006 Literary Award for his 2005 novel Wounded. Additionally, he served as a judge for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 1991 and the 1997 National Book Award for fiction.
Characterized by structural experimentation and ironical humor, Everett's writing spans a remarkable range of forms, including a farcical Western, a savage satire of the publishing industry, a children's story spoofing counting books, retellings of Greek myths involving Medea and Dionysus, and a philosophical tract narrated by a four-year-old child. Critics have frequently noted his adventurous narrative approach; The Washington Post described him as 'one of the most adventurously experimental of modern American novelists,' while The Boston Globe wrote that 'He's literature's NASCAR champion, going flat out, narrowly avoiding one seemingly inevitable crash only to steer straight for the next.' Everett writes extensively about subjects that provoke his curiosity, frequently blending semiotics, critical theory, absurd humor, and sharp social commentary to challenge readers' expectations regarding African American identity and cultural categorization.
