Moses Migrating

Sam Selvon's hilarious Moses Migrating, the last of the trilogy that began with Lonely Londoners, takes us back to Moses's roots in Trinidad. The comparison here is to Naipaul's The Mimic Men, in which a man from an island modeled on Trinidad, is similarly trapped between "homes" and mimicry. Here, however, Selvon playfully uses Carnival and mas as an extension of the critique of mimicry among West Indians. Moses, so obsessed with defending Brit'n, even in the face of racist immigration laws and Enoch Powell, plays Britannia for Carnival. Along the way, we learn more about the origins of Moses and Bob, his former white Friday from Moses Ascending, who may have more in common with Moses than he ever knew. Through the metaphor of playing mas, Lovelace's The Dragon Can't Dance is also an important Trinidadian reference, albeit one in which the Indo-Caribbean population of the island is more than just background to the plot, as we see in Moses Migrating. 

As one may expect in a novel based on dislocation and Carnival, up is down, white is black, and a changing Trinidad, appearing different to locals and tourists, reveal the problematic space in which people like Moses can inhabit, trapped as he is between colonial deference to the Mother Country and a world in constant movement, particularly the rise of Black Power, his own aging, and rootlessness. He barely recognizes Trinidad, had rarely left Port of Spain, thinks he is in love with a younger woman living with the same Tanty who raised him, but never finds the room for authenticity or honesty. Even his relationship with Galahad, a friend from the Lonely Londoner days, is not an authentic friendship as each lies or distrusts the other. Yet, with his characteristic wit, Selvon's balanced use of humor and satire allow for entertaining reading, despite the disappointing and pathetic end. In that sense, Moses could perhaps accompany the Indo-Caribbean narrator of The Mimic Men, Ralph Singh, in that London hotel with fellow transients. As Doris reminds him, his entire life is playing mas.

Brighton Rock

Although Brighton Rock is centered on a teenage gangster in the seaside town of Brighton, thematically this novel fits in quite well with Greene's Catholic novels. Rose, in particular, her ability to stand by and love a man committed to damnation regardless of tragic consequences, stood out to the reader as one of Greene's more memorable characters. Ida, as a socially 'free' women driven by Right and Wrong rather than good and evil (the framework of Rose), is a remarkable character in her sexual freedom and autonomy. The contrast between Right and Wrong versus good and evil also demonstrates the murkiness of ethics in a modern society in which religion does not dictate law. Thus, in her own way, Rose's belief in love and fidelity to Pinkie is arguably 'good' even if the actions of the characters are Wrong. Similarly, Ida's pursuit of what's Right, removed from a Catholic ethics, ignores a larger purpose or calling. These opposing conceptions illustrate part of the conflict between Ida and Rose, who though young and naive in her own way, nonetheless clings to her 'Roman' predilection for damnation and heaven. And the suggestion of a Catholic hope for all, despite it all, figures prominently here as in Greene's best Catholic novels, in spite of the ultimate tragedy that awaits Rose.  

You've Got To Have Freedom

Haven't listened to this Pharoah Sanders classic for several years. A nice tribute that made me smile. 

Favorite Reads of 2016

1. Howards End
Sometimes the classics are required reading for a reason. Although I only knew Forster for his science fiction short story before tackling this novel, I highly recommend it for its sophisticated portrait of English social relations.

2. A Morning at the Office (Mittelholzer)
Mittelholzer's realist novel accomplishes for Trinidad's social system what Forster did for England.

3. The End of the Affair
Graham Greene resonates with me like few writers. Greene's tale of love and loss is profoundly moving and drew on the author's own affair with a married woman.

4. Neuromancer
Science fiction with literary ambition by one of the genre's great writers. Although the Rastafarians used in the novel's heist were criticized by some, Gibson's vision of the future is horrifyingly accurate in some ways.

5. Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth
A serious book on Billie Holiday by one of the greats in jazz writing. Although more of a musical biography rather than a narrative of her life, Szwed takes Holiday's singing seriously as music and art. Published in honor of the centennial of her birth, too.

6. 4 Lives in the Bebop Business (Spellman)
A classic in jazz. Spellman's chapters on Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman should be required for anyone wishing to learn more about the social milieu in which avant-garde jazz developed in the 1960s.

7. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (PKD)
A totalitarian society envisioned by Philip K. Dick in the 1970s. Hints of his later Christian and religious themes are present, but it's also perhaps his best novel of the 1970s.

8. The Heart of the Matter
Perhaps my favorite Graham Greene novel, this World War II tale of love and guilt takes place in Sierra Leone.

9. The Left Hand of Darkness
Science fiction classic for anyone interested in gender.  You can tell LeGuin’s father was an anthropologist...

10. The Quiet American
The one in which Graham Greene predicted the Vietnam War.

11. The Power and the Glory
Possibly Graham Greene's most beautiful work, this tale of a fallen priest in Mexico almost made me want to return to the Catholic Church. Almost...

12. Camp Concentration
Disch was one of the more literary practitioners of science fiction and this classic tale is both harrowing and suspenseful.

13. The Transmigration of Timothy Archer
In terms of its prose, this is by far Philip K. Dick's best novel and his only work with a fully developed woman protagonist.

14. Middle Passage (VS Naipaul)
Although much of Naipaul's rants and screeds about the 'Third World' are misleading or dishonest, I find his first travel book, commissioned by Eric Williams, to be his best since it describes his 'native' region, the West Indies.

15. The Lathe of Heaven
LeGuin's most phildickian novel. Highly recommend the first film adaptation, too.

16. Black No More (George Schuyler)
For fans of satire and the Harlem Renaissance. Schuyler is a personal hero of mine.

17. An Island Is A World (Selvon)
An early masterpiece from Sam Selvon. Very autobiographical and true to its title.

18. My Bones and My Flute (Mittelholzer)
Ghost story that is suspenseful, engaging, and frightening by one of the best writers to ever come out of Guyana.

19. Letters Between a Father and Son (Naipaul)
Intensely personal correspondence between Naipaul and his father and Naipaul and his sister, Kamla. Reading these letters will soften any criticism of Naipaul as a writer or person.

20. Dr. Futurity (PKD)
Time travel, colonialism, mixed-race people, and more from this adventurous and fun PKD novel. 

The Free-Lance Pallbearers

Although far from being my favorite of Ishmael Reed's novels, The Free-Lance Pallbearers packs quite a punch. A satirical work on the US and race relations, it's most similar to The Terrible Twos rather than some of his novels that are closer chronologically to this work, though hoodoo's prominence ties it with Reed's neo-Hoodoo aesthetic of his early novels. Considering its publication in the 1960s, the novel is a play on race and the protagonist, Bukka Doopeyduk, transitions from believing in the despotic dictatorship of HARRY Sam to playing a pivotal role in overthrowing it. While reading this, the novel that came to mind was Harry Sonny Ladoo's Yesterdays, which shares an obsession with excrement as symbolic of the society. Anyway, this is not Reed's funniest piece of satire, but important for understanding his development as a novelist willing to take risks. 

And Sometimes I Wonder About You

Walter Mosley's Leonid McGill mystery novel is a fast-paced thriller guaranteed to entertain. Action, eros, suspense, and likable usual characters who populate Leonid McGill's adventures pop up here to great effect. There are even references to Black Lives Matter and the killing of Eric Garner. Nonetheless, like the entertaining Rose Gold, I am not sure the plot here was as successful. The recurring theme or organizing structure in this work appears to function in triads along the following lines: generational, romantic, and criminal cases. There are three main criminals, and the most menacing of all is the least convincing and barely a part of the narrative. The three women Leonid involves himself with represent distinct paths: Marella as lust, Aura as love, and Katrina, his wife, as stability. There are three generational dynamics: Leonid's father is trying to become a part of his son's life, Leonid is trying to keep an eye on his favorite son, Twill, and Leonid's father becomes a grandfatherly figure interacting positively with the family. This is fine and dandy, but the plot suffers from not developing what could have potentially become the most interesting villain, Jones. In spite of these quibbles, the novel is a fun read as one comes to expect from Mosley.

Howards End

I only know Foster's classic through Zadie Smith's On Beauty, but I felt it was necessary to read Howards End. After reading Forster's "The Machine Stops," my interest in Forster only grew. However, Howards End is achingly slow, albeit quite philosophical, and perhaps is too optimistic about the future of English class relations and a synthesis of the English practical character and German idealism. Nonetheless, it is rewarding to see where Smith's fascinating novel comes from, despite their radical differences in setting and the racial themes of Smith's work. However, Foster, in his own way, was quite critical of Empire and the ascendant commercial classes, which leaves him relevant to posterity, though the characaters of Howards End are by no means radicals. It's a shame that such an optimistic novel of the future would be broken by World War I and renewed German-British conflict. For the urban/rural character of the novel (London versus the provinces) and the hybrid German-English protagonist, Margaret, one sees how this novel influenced Zadie Smith.