I am very disappointed that Wideman's daughter Jamila was not mentioned in this article.
4
I considered myself to be well read but I have never heard of this guy, Wideman. I called my former English professor and she had heard of him and has read several of his books. I believe that his personal history overshadows the book that he has written about Emmett Till's father. I am familiar with what unfortunately happen to Till's father in Italy. I just wish Till's mother, Mamie Till Bradley had written a book. I will not discuss Wideman's personal tragedies because in the words of John Steinbeck, "he lives in a world that you and I cannot enter or begin to understand."
10
It is revealing that some of the voices here are less interested in the story, than in the personal life of the storyteller.
And it all somehow comes across as the chance to jump on the racial bandwagon to cast aspersions -- without even contemplating the historical and literary context of the subject matter itself.
Even more alarming, one gets the sense that some of these comments come from people who have not read a book by this author; which ultimately precludes the opportunity to have any kind of an intelligent exchange.
Given the present tone in this country, it is a missed chance.
And it all somehow comes across as the chance to jump on the racial bandwagon to cast aspersions -- without even contemplating the historical and literary context of the subject matter itself.
Even more alarming, one gets the sense that some of these comments come from people who have not read a book by this author; which ultimately precludes the opportunity to have any kind of an intelligent exchange.
Given the present tone in this country, it is a missed chance.
11
I attended Penn Law in the early '60's. John Wideman, as part of his scholarship, I assumed, worked in the Law School cafeteria when I would go in for my cup of tea and toast before class. He carried himself so regally. But I can't remember ever seeing him speak. All the sports fans knew him, though, and I was a regular at the Palestra for the Penn basketball games, especially when the opponent was a Big Five team. I knew that shortly after I graduated he had won a Rhodes scholarship. I never would have thought he was such an outstanding student, or would have matured as a world- class writer. watching him silently mopping the cafeteria floor. Just a guy working off his scholarship. A hidden life --- then.
10
As a student at Penn in the late 60's, I was fortunate enough to take a course that Wideman was teaching, Intro to Black Literature, ( not sure if that was the actual title at that time). He is one of the few instructors I recall from those 4 years almost 50 years ago. He made what is called a lasting impression for all the best reasons. I am sorry that his life proved to be so full of turmoil.
7
Self-absorbed *brilliant* men and their ever-so-adoring wives unleash a lot of misery on the world, generation after generation. Maybe a little less adoration from the credulous would be helpful.
7
With all due respect, this kind of subjective judgement, without the slightest nod to any of the author's works, reveals little more than a profound unfamiliarity with any of his literary achievements.
13
Have never managed to get into any of his books.
3
The racial bias of both John Wideman and the author of this article screams out from every paragraph. To even suggest that there was some kind of racial aspect to the brutal murder of Eric Kane by Wideman's son is not only absurd but very hurtful to those of us who knew and loved Eric. It is interesting to note that if you check Jacob Wideman's records at the Arizona Dept of Corrections, he listed himself as "Caucasian" for almost all of the last thirty years. Only about two years ago, he switched the listing to African American. I guess he thought that if he used the race card, it might help him get of prison. Maybe he learned that from his father.
13
Why are the comments posted by those supposedly knew Mr. Kane, so hateful? Unless, by chance you are the same person who made an earlier comment under the name "Eric's Friend".
And if such is the case, why the consistent laser-like emphasis on the minutia of race? -- It somehow makes everything else seem secondary.
In the end, what difference does it make in the face of such a tragedy?
And if such is the case, why the consistent laser-like emphasis on the minutia of race? -- It somehow makes everything else seem secondary.
In the end, what difference does it make in the face of such a tragedy?
4
Perhaps it had been a little unwise for the Widemans to have turned the atmosphere of their home into a cult of death and blackness, and the myriad ways in which those realities intersect. Middle child Jacob, who apparently failed throughout his childhood to sufficiently impress his parents with his own abilities, and demonstrating external signs of severe emotional stress, and raised, perhaps, to think an uncle in prison for murder was an alternative role model from that of the intellectual side of the family, made a terrible choice, and no matter how it affected his family, he affected another family more horribly.
It*s not hard to find out how Jacob spent his time in prison--marrying, in succession, two prison psychologists--and I guess we don't send our best and brightest to treat the most profoundly in need of appropriate therapeutic interventions. A highly intelligent, insidiously manipulative person--perhaps not so different from his father.
It*s not hard to find out how Jacob spent his time in prison--marrying, in succession, two prison psychologists--and I guess we don't send our best and brightest to treat the most profoundly in need of appropriate therapeutic interventions. A highly intelligent, insidiously manipulative person--perhaps not so different from his father.
12
Have always loved John Edgar Wideman. Thank you!
7
It’s time we stop romanticizing John Edgar Wideman. Because he’s a prolific author, his voice is heard. Unfortunately, there are victims of his arrogance, indifference and bias in how he raised and then supported his murderous son whose voices are not heard. “The idea that my son was out. ...” he told me, his voice trailing off. “Hey, nothing else mattered.” That’s the one line I believe. Nothing else mattered but getting his son out of prison. Dig a little into Jacob’s past… Getting him help didn’t matter. The truth didn’t matter. Responsibility didn’t matter. Respect didn’t matter and Guilt didn’t matter. For Wideman, RACE seems to matter. For Eric Kane, the color of his skin didn’t matter, the color of his murderer’s skin, nor the color of the knife that Jacob violently plunged into Eric’s chest mattered. There is no such thing as justice for the victims of Jacob. It’s never been about race but Wideman made it about that. If Eric’s murderer were blue, I’d still hope he would be punished according to the law. He’s out-unbelievably. He’s alive. We will never see Eric grow into the great man he would have become because of Jacob’s heinous crime. What really matters to all of us is that Eric died needlessly. The one person who could have saved him that night- left him alone to die. He had no remorse and no regrets. That’s the man that Wideman raised -no matter his color. Let’s read more about that NY Times and less about how unfair poor Wideman feels life can be.
23
The vitriol and sense of injustice is this comment is hard to miss. Perhaps, if it were tempered a bit, the true colors of Wideman's stories would come through--colors that involve more than just Black & White.
But then again, maybe it is just the artistry of his craft that simply evades you, making it easier for you to concentrate more on the pigment of one's skin, than the context in which it is written.
But then again, maybe it is just the artistry of his craft that simply evades you, making it easier for you to concentrate more on the pigment of one's skin, than the context in which it is written.
11
@Eric'S Friend
Wideman is not asking for your sympathy here, and I don't know how you even think that's the point of this article. You apparently ignored the part of the article that stated "Wideman maintains that he has never argued for Jacob’s innocence — it was he and Judy who took him to the police station ...."
Wideman is not asking for your sympathy here, and I don't know how you even think that's the point of this article. You apparently ignored the part of the article that stated "Wideman maintains that he has never argued for Jacob’s innocence — it was he and Judy who took him to the police station ...."
14
A well-written interview about an author who has never strayed from questioning and exploring the matter of humanity, and race both in America, and in the world at large.
Given the present situation in this country, it is a most timely exposition.
Given the present situation in this country, it is a most timely exposition.
13
I've read WRITING TO SAVE A LIFE 4 or 5 times since it came out. The writing is gorgeous, challenging, and provocative. I'm disappointed that Mr. Williams fails to mention that Louis Till's failure to get a fair trial in Italy in 1944, which led to his execution, also had an impact on his son, Emmett.
When Emmett's murderers were acquitted of having killed and mutilated the boy's body because a white woman lied about Emmett having "whistled" at her, public outrage seemed to dictate that the feds would re-try the men for violating Emmett's civil rights. At that moment, someone "leaked" Louis Till's military file. The idea that Emmett was the son of a man who had been convicted of raping and killing a white woman suddenly made Emmett's murder into a case of perhaps "the boy had had it coming." His murderers' cases were dropped.
The legacy of Louis Till had a direct impact on American history. As Mitchell Jackson and I talked about in an interview he did with me in LitHub in early January, Mamie Till was one of the first mothers of the Black Lives Matter movement. She told white Americans to look at what racism had done to her boy, to see beyond his blackness and to see him for the human being that he was. Emmett Till's black life had mattered.
So did Louis Till's life. The man was a wife-beater, and an uneducated, angry man, but there is little evidence that he was a rapist and a killer. He did, however, make a very convenient scapegoat for an embarrassed military.
When Emmett's murderers were acquitted of having killed and mutilated the boy's body because a white woman lied about Emmett having "whistled" at her, public outrage seemed to dictate that the feds would re-try the men for violating Emmett's civil rights. At that moment, someone "leaked" Louis Till's military file. The idea that Emmett was the son of a man who had been convicted of raping and killing a white woman suddenly made Emmett's murder into a case of perhaps "the boy had had it coming." His murderers' cases were dropped.
The legacy of Louis Till had a direct impact on American history. As Mitchell Jackson and I talked about in an interview he did with me in LitHub in early January, Mamie Till was one of the first mothers of the Black Lives Matter movement. She told white Americans to look at what racism had done to her boy, to see beyond his blackness and to see him for the human being that he was. Emmett Till's black life had mattered.
So did Louis Till's life. The man was a wife-beater, and an uneducated, angry man, but there is little evidence that he was a rapist and a killer. He did, however, make a very convenient scapegoat for an embarrassed military.
22
A tawny blond black boy?
No--a biracial boy.
If Jacob had serious developmental problems, what help did Wideman and his wife attempt to get for him? Why does this article work so hard to minimize a dreadful crime? Is Wideman--or the author of this article--trying to suggest that Jacob was not mentally competent to be tried for this crime? IF that's so, come out and just say it--if not, don't play games. A boy died horribly; his killer was imprisoned. Why isn't that justice?
No--a biracial boy.
If Jacob had serious developmental problems, what help did Wideman and his wife attempt to get for him? Why does this article work so hard to minimize a dreadful crime? Is Wideman--or the author of this article--trying to suggest that Jacob was not mentally competent to be tried for this crime? IF that's so, come out and just say it--if not, don't play games. A boy died horribly; his killer was imprisoned. Why isn't that justice?
19
And what is more disturbing to you? --- The description of the bi-racial boy or the crime itself?
Given the order in which you present the comment, it is difficult to tell.
Given the order in which you present the comment, it is difficult to tell.
6
@SCA
Where in the article is there a suggestion that justice was not served? After all "Wideman maintains that he has never argued for Jacob’s innocence — it was he and Judy who took him to the police station ...."
Where in the article is there a suggestion that justice was not served? After all "Wideman maintains that he has never argued for Jacob’s innocence — it was he and Judy who took him to the police station ...."
12
Historically in this country, the "one drop rule" that determined racial category (not identity) was perpetrated on people of even the smallest amount of African heritage, like most of the members of one branch of my family. Tawny and blond is a physical description, and black boy describes not only the racial category that was ascribed to him, but also the likely identity that he had within his home; do you know otherwise? That one drop rule was devised to deny any claim by children a slave owner had with his slaves to his possessions while living or dead. And only that. It then resulted in the identity of millions of African Americans no matter their ethnic background, station in life, or skills. And how other "non-blacks" viewed African Americans. President Obama, while raised largely by his white grand parents, and his mother, made the choice of being African-American and distinction as an adult.
6
Emmett Till is as much a part of American history, post-mid 20th century, as any traumatic event in our nation's history. The senseless murder of this boy, once anonymous, is no less important than the deaths of Abraham Lincoln or John F. Kennedy, two men of vast renown and reputations that have, over time, shifted from those who would deify them or demonize them.
The Till killing forced America to get on its knees and look under its bed; to examine the clutter there, most of it unsightly and not fit for polite conversation; the scent of blood and slaughter and ring of iron mingled with untold human suffering in a free land in a backdrop of indifference and smirking privilege.
I read, many years ago, John Edgar Wideman's Brothers And Keepers, a chronicle of two brothers who shared blood and bone but not the promise of an America, still looking over its shoulder at the Till killing in 1955 and trying to move on from it, sometimes resentfully, sometimes resignedly. The author of that remarkable book, 14 when Till rushed into the pure waters of apartheid, a transgression that cost him his life, has since become one of our greatest American men of letters.
I, as have uncounted other African-American men, wondered about the dead end of Louis Till, the sire of a boy whose death would forever mark America as a nation that walked with God while bargaining with the devil.
I hope Mr. Wideman's latest effort will find the wide audience he has always, to my mind, richly deserved.
The Till killing forced America to get on its knees and look under its bed; to examine the clutter there, most of it unsightly and not fit for polite conversation; the scent of blood and slaughter and ring of iron mingled with untold human suffering in a free land in a backdrop of indifference and smirking privilege.
I read, many years ago, John Edgar Wideman's Brothers And Keepers, a chronicle of two brothers who shared blood and bone but not the promise of an America, still looking over its shoulder at the Till killing in 1955 and trying to move on from it, sometimes resentfully, sometimes resignedly. The author of that remarkable book, 14 when Till rushed into the pure waters of apartheid, a transgression that cost him his life, has since become one of our greatest American men of letters.
I, as have uncounted other African-American men, wondered about the dead end of Louis Till, the sire of a boy whose death would forever mark America as a nation that walked with God while bargaining with the devil.
I hope Mr. Wideman's latest effort will find the wide audience he has always, to my mind, richly deserved.
19
“…Till’s bleak, half-size grave near Fère-en-Tardenois, France, 75 miles east of Paris, on an ignominious plot of land where all 96 soldiers (83 of them black) who were executed by the U.S. military during World War II are buried.”
86% of those executed were black, undoubtedly tried and convicted by officers and gentlemen of their peers. Perhaps their crimes were the same as that which led to the torture and execution of the 14 year-old Emmett Till here on American soil--looking at a white woman, or in the case of France, being in the company of a white woman--an act that certainly infuriated white men during this period and perhaps still does--American racism exported.
86% of those executed were black, undoubtedly tried and convicted by officers and gentlemen of their peers. Perhaps their crimes were the same as that which led to the torture and execution of the 14 year-old Emmett Till here on American soil--looking at a white woman, or in the case of France, being in the company of a white woman--an act that certainly infuriated white men during this period and perhaps still does--American racism exported.
31
Rambling and trite observations about,,,nothing really. Kept reading the article hoping it would lead to something insightful about a once talented author, but turned out to be basically a waste of time.
16
Why bother commenting then? This is just negative. Stop reading if you don't like it.
20
"If you don't have something good to say, then don't say it," said Grandma. I loved her dearly but that admonition is nonsense.
Hugh's comment is just as worthy as anyone else's. Print it, agree or disagree, but print it.
Hugh's comment is just as worthy as anyone else's. Print it, agree or disagree, but print it.
4
If some interested readers are not aware of this, John O'Brien interviewed
Wideman in "Interviews with Black Writers." The book was published in the early 70s and is still available for sale online and in public libraries.
Wideman in "Interviews with Black Writers." The book was published in the early 70s and is still available for sale online and in public libraries.
6
Only racists think race matters.
9
It's ironic when the majority race uses that old canard to blame the victims. As a 58 year old black man (B.Commerce, Hons, MBA, JD), race matters. And I am not a racist.
72
I'm currently reading "Life on the Color Line" by Gregory Howard Williams. His graphic description of how he was treated as white, and as black, is illuminating. It is part of our national history, not just a game.
12
Interested and pleased to read Albert Murray's name in the NYT. Not sure I agree with juxtaposing him with Ellison. Murray, IMHO, is sui generis and worth the read. If the reader is either a jazz fan or blues fan, or, ideally both, the reading will sound familiar, yet new. Highly recommended...
7
I forget the title of the book, but at least one writer concluded Murray had a much better relationship with himself and enjoyed life more than Ellison.
Fascinating interview; beautifully done, thank you Thomas Williams.
Looking forward to reading his work!
Looking forward to reading his work!
27
Wow- now that's a real man- he could drink you "under the table!" What if you had been interviewing a woman?
10
It is easy to let one's mind become crusted over by constant social media with its trumpeting roar of superficiality; its promises of simplicity and life without the necessity of insight. Wideman and his ilk are like havens of pure light. They are people who have the magic of inner truth and the courage to share it with any that make the journey to their lamp lit door.
14
Look closely. Everyone has hard times with very few exceptions.
15
Wow, this guy led an intense life.
4
"It took hours for Kane to bleed to death..." What does that tell you?
17
Thank you for this article. It's another reason why I subscribe to the New York Times. Support for good journalism is now more important than ever.
39
Wideman says, “we need [expletives] like Till.” We also need [expletives] like Wideman. Without the latter [expletives], the former [expletives] are merely statistics for those who can't wait to say, "see, I told you so...they're all like that." Kudos to Williams for this thoughtful portrait of a writer many of us didn't know existed. Not any more. Wideman, keep speaking for the facts; the other side does.
43
i could not agree more!
5
A wonderful and informative article. Thank you for turning me on to Mr. Wideman.
22
John Edgar Wideman is one of our best writers, though his name is not as familiar to students of American literature as it ought to be. BROTHERS AND KEEPERS should be on every high school/college first-year required reading list.
14
Mr Williams, Do you believe that the lynching of Mr. Till really shamed this nation in 1955?
9
It barely made the news until his mother had that open-gasket viewing.
It was mostly restricted to Ebony and Jet Magazine.
It was mostly restricted to Ebony and Jet Magazine.
24
[[Though we live in the most racially fraught period in at least a generation]]
We live in a time when EVERYONE portrays himself as a victim. A senator complained Obama never had him on Air Force One because the senator is white. It's a bizarre state of affairs.
We live in a time when EVERYONE portrays himself as a victim. A senator complained Obama never had him on Air Force One because the senator is white. It's a bizarre state of affairs.
33
A complex, complicated, and brilliant man Mr Wideman is. .
One I met as a teenager in Maine, so many years ago. .
I wish him only the best going forward, and I look forward to reading his latest "production". .
One I met as a teenager in Maine, so many years ago. .
I wish him only the best going forward, and I look forward to reading his latest "production". .
13
I, too, will read this book, not only on it's merits, but also because ten years ago, when I lived the Lower East Side, I also used to eat solitary dinners at Lucien. It was here that I experienced imaginary dinner dates, who came through the door and sat at my table, to have marvelous conversations. One was Abraham Lincoln, who wanted to talk about Doris Kearns Goodwin, and how the two of them had hung out over "Team of Rivals." These visitations were always enlivened also by Lucien himself, who created this sanctuary. Very fond memories!
17
Pound and Wideman: both adrift in a world that can never understand them enough to embrace them, the two in perpetual pursuit of perfect tone/phrase/character so as to communicate and be understood...wrote Pound:
...And then went down to the ship,
Set keel to breakers, forth on the godly sea, and
We set up mast and sail on that swart ship,
Bore sheep aboard her, and our bodies also
Heavy with weeping, so winds from sternward...
[The opening lines to his "translation" of Homer's "Odyssey"...]
And Wideman with his own demons and his own travel upon a sea of pain.
...And then went down to the ship,
Set keel to breakers, forth on the godly sea, and
We set up mast and sail on that swart ship,
Bore sheep aboard her, and our bodies also
Heavy with weeping, so winds from sternward...
[The opening lines to his "translation" of Homer's "Odyssey"...]
And Wideman with his own demons and his own travel upon a sea of pain.
12
I am so moved by this interview, and I'll buy the book today. Williams' careful reading of a writer not easily parsed demonstrates the necessity not only of publishing the work of a broad range of African Americans but employing reviewers and journalists who share the black experience.
48
Considerinng Edgar Wideman's work takes me to new territory, having lived as I did in the 50's near the African American culture but in a clueless state. I am reminded of Rich Cohen's 1998 book "Tough Jews" about some very unattractive, people, early 20th Century urban Jewish gangsters mostly unknown today and happily forgotten by most Jews old enough to remember. The circumstances that created their sociopathic behavior are only hinted at, but readers of Cohens's book are initiated into the world of lashing out, poverty, powerlessness and tragic choices.
I plan to read Wideman and expect to see a few parallels.
I plan to read Wideman and expect to see a few parallels.
38
I talked with some of my Jewish grandparents' generation (born 1880 - 1890 in America) about Jewish gangsters. All of that generation were universal in condemnation but a surprisingly large number agreed that the entry of Jews into "organized crime" meant Jews had "arrived" in America and would be a force to be considered. No pogroms in America...
11
I worked with a black man who served in Italy during WWII. We talked about it a few times.
He said every morning, the black soldiers were given a pill to take with their coffee. He never knew what the drug was and didn't drink or do drugs before or after his time in the Army, so he had nothing to compare to the drug. All the black men were drugged each morning. This man simply didn't lie; he might ignore a question but lying was not in his nature.
Why drug soldiers marching through Italy? The black men marched in front of the white troops. They were, in fact, merely shields. The Italian planes strafed the beginning of the column of men marching. It was a concept that scared me, so I asked if he and the other black men were scared.
He told me they were simply too high to be scared. He told me they actually laughed because they couldn't think straight. As an adult looking back on the experience, it made his blood run cold. It did the same to me, but it angered me and still angers me.
With identifications that should have been thrown out of any court, we'll never know who the rapists were, if they were black, white, or another race.
Will the US Army ever admit to what drugs were forced on black soldiers? Those drugs were almost certainly available to any white soldier who wanted a few pills, unless you're going to tell me that black market supplies are a 21st century phenomenon.
He said every morning, the black soldiers were given a pill to take with their coffee. He never knew what the drug was and didn't drink or do drugs before or after his time in the Army, so he had nothing to compare to the drug. All the black men were drugged each morning. This man simply didn't lie; he might ignore a question but lying was not in his nature.
Why drug soldiers marching through Italy? The black men marched in front of the white troops. They were, in fact, merely shields. The Italian planes strafed the beginning of the column of men marching. It was a concept that scared me, so I asked if he and the other black men were scared.
He told me they were simply too high to be scared. He told me they actually laughed because they couldn't think straight. As an adult looking back on the experience, it made his blood run cold. It did the same to me, but it angered me and still angers me.
With identifications that should have been thrown out of any court, we'll never know who the rapists were, if they were black, white, or another race.
Will the US Army ever admit to what drugs were forced on black soldiers? Those drugs were almost certainly available to any white soldier who wanted a few pills, unless you're going to tell me that black market supplies are a 21st century phenomenon.
76
I believe this might well be true. But I wonder, why did these men take the drugs, why didn't the Justice Department head tell Comey that he could not and should not make investigations public before an election, Why didn't Obama make a lot of noise about what the Republican did, I don't mean to be blaming the victims, but we all need to STOP FOLLOWING ORDERS, NOW! Now is the time.
22
It's a well-documented fact that black soldiers were always used a canon fodder during WW2. They were typically sent on dangerous patrol "feel" missions on the frontlines to see if there were enemies around and took heavy casualties. The military was strictly segregated back then.
Despite their heroism, they returned home to face legalized discrimination (most of them lived in the South) while the white soldiers were greeted as heroes with huge parades and benefits from the GI Bill (free education, bank loans, housing, etc).
It wasn't until the mid-90s that some of them were acknowledged with token White House ceremonies during the Clinton administration.
Despite their heroism, they returned home to face legalized discrimination (most of them lived in the South) while the white soldiers were greeted as heroes with huge parades and benefits from the GI Bill (free education, bank loans, housing, etc).
It wasn't until the mid-90s that some of them were acknowledged with token White House ceremonies during the Clinton administration.
38
Criminal, unspeakable, hideous
10
Emmett Till's mangled dead body, found floating in a Mississippi River in 1954, was identified solely by his father, Louis Till's, U.S. Army service ring, which young Emmett cherished, according to his mother, Mamie Till. Looking forward to reading John Wideman's account of the Till family's tragic American story.
44
It was the Tallahatchie River.
2
He said "a" Mississippi river, not "the" Mississippi River.
10
. . . and the Tallahatchie Bridge.
4
Not an important comment, but I'll make it anyway. I was a freshman basketball player at Columbia when Wideman was a senior at Penn. I watched him in person play against our varsity. He was a beautiful player. First team All-Ivy, etc. I never did lose the image of this elegant Black man on a court with 9 whites (it was 1961 in the Ivy League). I've followed him since, including the story of his son. His daughter was an All-American player, I believe at Stanford. This is the first time I've noted that he seems at peace, good.
65
An author I have never heard of.
Compelled to read his stuff after this profile.
Well done Chatterton.-Williams. Thank you.
Compelled to read his stuff after this profile.
Well done Chatterton.-Williams. Thank you.
49