[Fwd: Re: [Fwd: RARA-AVIS: Wherefore Art thou, Chester?]]

Mari Hall (found.dead.in.texas@airmail.net)
Fri, 13 Mar 1998 16:17:19 -0600 This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

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As you know, Robert E. Skinner (whose address appears at the bottom of
this) has written a book on Chester Himes. He has been out of town due
to a death in his family and has been extremely busy, so he could not
participate in this discussion about Chester Himes and I really wanted
him to do. So I am posting this message he sent to me regarding Himes'
new (at least newly published) book---CAST THE FIRST STONE.
If I shouldn't have done this to the list, please forgive me, I just
think anyone who writes a book and gets it published, deserves to be
recognized for his/her work, so just spam me if I should not have done
it.

> Hi again, Mari:
>
I wasn't kidding about the work, though. It's been unrelenting, and
I've really had to cut down on the things I keep up with, even Himes,
since I'm not actively involved in a project. I'm glad to see people
talking about him, and new material. That new book you're talking about
is actually the original version of a novel called CAST THE FIRST STONE,
based on his prison experience. I believe Norton brought it out under
its Black Classics imprint. Haven't read it, but heard it sounds like
what it is--an unedited novel. I suspect the main interest is in the
material that didn't make it into the published version, and that the
point of view is that of a black man in prison. Cast the First Stone
was published with a white protagonist, at the publisher's insistence.

> Thanks for thinking of me.
>
> Bob
> --
> **************************************
> Robert E. Skinner, Director
> Xavier University of Louisiana Library
> 7325 Palmetto Street
> New Orleans, LA 70125
> (504) 483-7303 (voice)
> (504) 485-7917 (FAX)
> e-mail: rskinner@mail.xula.edu
> **************************************

Also, Bob mentioned to me that the Cleveland Plain Dealer had a large
article on Himes recently and Bob and his book were on Himes were quoted
extensively.

-- 
whose DOROTHYL nom is Kate Warne the ex-Pinkerton in
The Woman With the Rose Tattoo by Mari Hall
See y'all at Left Coast Crime 8--been there done that back too soon

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Return-Path: <rskinner@mail.xula.edu> Received: from xavier.xula.edu from [198.190.213.251] by mail.airmail.net (/\##/\ Smail3.1.30.16 #30.237) with esmtp for <found.dead.in.texas@airmail.net> id <m0yDapY-000Bg2B@mail.airmail.net>; Fri, 13 Mar 98 14:13:24 -0600 (CST) Received: from robertsk221-19.xula.edu ([172.16.113.254] (may be forged)) by xavier.xula.edu (8.8.6/8.8.6) with ESMTP id OAA10664 for <found.dead.in.texas@airmail.net>; Fri, 13 Mar 1998 14:09:03 -0600 (CST) Message-ID: <350996FE.9D7B4C0A@mail.xula.edu> Date: Fri, 13 Mar 1998 14:28:47 -0600 From: "Robert E. Skinner" <rskinner@mail.xula.edu> Reply-To: rskinner@mail.xula.edu Organization: Xavier University of Louisiana Library X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.01 [en] (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: found.dead.in.texas@airmail.net Subject: Re: [Fwd: RARA-AVIS: Wherefore Art thou, Chester?] X-Priority: 3 (Normal) References: <35098E87.454C@airmail.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Hi again, Mari:
Thanks for your sympathy. My mother's death was expected, almost to the day when she left us, so it wasn't a shock. I wasn't kidding about the work, though. It's been unrelenting, and I've really had to cut down on the things I keep up with, even Himes, since I'm not actively involved in a project. I'm glad to see people talking about him, and new material. That new book you're talking about is actually the original version of a novel called CAST THE FIRST STONE, based on his prison experience. I believe Norton brought it out under its Black Classics imprint. Haven't read it, but heard it sounds like what it is--an unedited novel. I suspect the main interest is in the material that didn't make it into the published version, and that the point of view is that of a black man in prison. Cast the First Stone was published with a white protagonist, at the publisher's insistence.
Thanks for thinking of me.
Bob
-- 
**************************************
Robert E. Skinner, Director
Xavier University of Louisiana Library
7325 Palmetto Street
New Orleans, LA 70125
(504) 483-7303 (voice)
(504) 485-7917 (FAX)
e-mail: rskinner@mail.xula.edu
**************************************


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