David Bell (belldj@muohio.edu)
Fri, 31 Dec 1999 17:46:10 -0500
It's been a long time since I've read Pick-Up, but I never
took that last line literally. I thought it was just that in
his isolation, loneliness etc, he felt like a Negro would,
especially since the story takes place over thirty years ago.
Does anyone know what Willeford himself ever said about it?
David
Ron Clinton wrote:
> > By contrast, I have read every Willeford book
the same
> > day I got it. This guy must have been the
most
> > compelling writer in the entire genre. Nobody
writes
> > like him.
>
> I just finished PICK-UP by Willeford - a very dreary
and depressing look at
> a couple of life's failures and throwaways. But,
still, very
> engrossing...kind of like watching a car wreck. A
question, though, for
> those more familiar with Willeford's work than me:
the last line of the
> novel, where he announces his race as "Negro".
Perhaps I didn't understand
> the significance of this proclamation...was there
more to it than that? My
> instant reaction was, "Umm, okay...*and*?" It seemed
to have been posed as
> an almost O'Henry like twist - yet it didn't seem to
me to offer anything to
> the book's prior storyline nor cast any new light on
what had come before
> it. Did I miss something? Or am I just making too
much of what was simply
> meant as a throwaway last line?
>
> Ron Clinton
>
> --
> # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to
> # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to
majordomo@icomm.ca.
> # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
.
-- # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Fri 31 Dec 1999 - 17:53:23 EST