No Telephone to Heaven

Posted in Autobiography, Books, Caribbean/Latin America, Novels, United Kingdom, United States on 2016-06-23 23:51Z by Steven

No Telephone to Heaven

Plume
March 1996 (Originally published in 1987)
224 Pages
Paperback ISBN: 9780452275690

Michelle Cliff (1946-2016)

A brilliant Jamaican-American writer takes on the themes of colonialism, race, myth, and political awakening through the experiences of a light-skinned woman named Clare Savage. The story is one of discovery as Clare moves through a variety of settings – Jamaica, England, America – and encounters people who affect her search for place and self.

The structure of No Telephone to Heaven combines naturalism and lyricism, and traverses space and time, dream and reality, myth and history, reflecting the fragmentation of the protagonist, who nonetheless seeks wholeness and connection. In this deeply poetic novel there exist several levels: the world Clare encounters, and a world of which she only gradually becomes aware – a world of extreme poverty, the real Jamaica, not the Jamaica of the middle class, not the Jamaica of the tourist. And Jamaica – almost a character in the book – is described in terms of extraordinary beauty, coexisting with deep human tragedy.

The violence that rises out of extreme oppression, the divided loyalties of a colonized person, sexual dividedness, and the dividedness of a person neither white nor black – all of these are truths that Clare must face. Overarching all the themes in this exceptionally fine novel is the need to become whole, and the decisions and the courage demanded to achieve that wholeness.

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Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black

Posted in Autobiography, Books, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Monographs, Passing, United States on 2011-09-16 03:19Z by Steven

Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black

Plume, an imprint of Penguin
February 1996
304 pages
5.35 x 7.95in
Paperback ISBN: 9780452275331
ePub eBook ISBN: 9781440665813
Adobe eBook ISBN: 9781440665813

Gregory Howard Williams, President
University of Cincinnati

Awards

  • Los Angeles Times Book Prize
  • Friends of American Writers Award: Nominee
  • Melcher Book Award: Nominee

A stunning journey to the heart of the racial dilemma in this country.

Table of Contents

  1. Acknowledgments
  2. The Open House Cafe
  3. The Midas Touch
  4. “Captain of My Soul”
  5. Rooster
  6. Learning How to Be Niggers
  7. Bob and Weave
  8. “Saved”
  9. Hustling
  10. Politics and Race
  11. The Color Line
  12. Accept the Things I Cannot Change
  13. Choices
  14. Go for It!
  15. Big Shoulders
  16. Persistence
  17. Teammates
  18. “Born in the Wilderness and Suckled by a Boar”
  19. State of Indiana v. Gregory H. Williams
  20. Mike: Like a Moth to Flames
  21. Tottering Kingdoms and Crumbling Empires
  22. Your Truly Mother
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