His masterful new novel,James,cements his status as one of our most distinctive writers.
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This piece was originally published on March 19.
We are recirculating it in honor of his National Book Award win on November 20.
His subject matter can be eclectic.
James is a quintessential Everettian protagonist: smart, measured, observant, and almost preternaturally capable.
He can read and write.
He can camp and fish and survive a rattlesnake bite.
He can, we will learn, hit a target.
Everetts primary characters tend toward reluctant heroism but also, at times, vengeance, alongside streaks of misanthropy.
Everett gives James a newfound interiority as a deft and savvy code switcher.
Among enslaved people, he speaks plain English.
But when white people are around, he adopts slave talk as a survival tactic.
This kind of performance and attention to performance on the level of language is trademark Everett.
InErasure,the narrators parody novel-within-a-novel is written in a grotesque caricature of Black vernacular.
In Everetts books, being Black and educated doesnt mean youre any better.
Everetts characters, along with his targets, are often educated.
But that doesnt make them necessarily smart or nice.
Niceties arent the point ofJames,either.
Tucked into Jamess narration are cutting asides, like shards of glass in between sentences.
Nonetheless, James takes big risks when it comes to reading and writing.
His request for a pencil will lead to dire consequences for the compatriot who obtains it for him.
Dont make eye contact, recites one boy.
Never speak first, offers a girl.
The class moves on to situational responses or translations, as James calls them.
Suppose the masters wifes kitchen is on fire and shes unaware.
How do you tell her?
Fire, fire, January said.
And thats almost correct, I said.
The youngest of them, lean and tall, five-year-old Rachel, said, Lawdy, missum!
Perfect, I said.
Why is that correct?
Lizzie raised her hand.
Because we must let the whites be the ones who name the trouble.
And why is that, I asked.
February said, Because they need to know everything before us.
Because they need to name everything.
In Everetts work, this resistance to naming everything is part of how he exercises freedom as an author.
to quibbles (do not agree) to practical questions (egg-butt snaffles or circle?)
Neither Thompsons instructions nor Calhouns notes are jokes.
Jamesis one of Everetts more conventional novels in terms of plot, but it still contains vintage Everett tricks.
When James finally makes his escape, he takes Emmetts notebook with him.
Somehow, he allows, they were necessary to my story.
His self-written book inside the notebook is, it turns out, the very one we are reading.
If we, the readers, will let them.
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