Conversations with Percival Everett

by Joe Weixlmann (Editor), Percival Everett

For the first eighteen years of his career, Percival Everett (b. 1956) managed to fly under the radar of the literary establishment. He followed his artistic vision down a variety of unconventional paths, including his preference for releasing his books through independent publishers. But with the publication of his novel erasure in 2001, his literary talent could no longer be kept under wraps. The author of more than twenty-five books, Everett has established himself as one of America's―and arguably the world's―premier twenty-first-century fiction writers. Among his many honors since 2000 are Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards for erasure and I Am Not Sidney Poitier (2009) and three prominent awards for his 2005 novel Wounded ―the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Fiction, France's Prix Lucioles des Libraires, and Italy's Premio Vallombrosa Gregor von Rezzori Prize.

Interviews collected in this volume―several of which appear in print or in English translation for the first time―display Everett's abundant wit as well as the independence of thought that has led to his work being described as “characteristically uncharacteristic.” At one moment he speaks with great sophistication about the fact that African American authors are forced to overcome constraining expectations about their subject matter that white writers are not. And in the next he talks about training mules or quips about “Jim Crow,” a pet bird Everett had on his ranch outside Los Angeles. Everett discusses race and gender, his ecological interests, the real and mythic American West, the eclectic nature of his work, the craft of writing, language and linguistic theory, and much more.

Genres: Nonfiction

234 pages, Hardcover

First published May 20, 2013

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mixture of interviews with Percival. Many do not, in my opinion, have a clue as to how to interview him. But, those who do opened doors that I’ve been dying to walk through. ‘Listening’ to Everett talk about his writing process, his publications, his everyday life, and his opinions was absolutely fascinating. SO glad this book was made available.

Read it in a book format, with photo on the cover of Percival with his pet crow, “Jim” riding on his shoulder.

[Analouise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really useful book. Interviews and conversations with authors provide useful insights into their work. The breadth of interviews in this collection is terrific.

[Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

What one learns on reading a book of interviews spaced across seventeen years is that Percival Everett really means it when he says he doesn't much like doing interviews. A lot of these encounters feature the same at times perfunctory, formulaic answers. No doubt a lot of that can be chalked up to the fact that most interviewers seem to ask the same sets of questions and it saves time to serve up canned or wry responses that have done the trick before. Some of the 'I just don't do the lit biz' talk can start to seem a great deal like a pose, as any inhabited position must after a time. And inhabited long enough, gruff curmudgeon is, as Everett likes to say in interviews, "a thing." In the later interviews it seems as if there is a mild opening up, a bit more generosity and patience. Nevertheless, Everett comes alive to say things that are less formulaic than usual from time to time, when the interviewer comes at him from a different direction or he just is in what seems to be a better mood. The almost-monastic insistence on not being able to say anything substantive about his art or what it might mean is both refreshing and irritating, a dual response that would no doubt please this most 'please yourself' of writers. If you're looking for a little more bite or self-examination, try the Anthony Stewart interview which seems to be the most rewarding (for the reader) of the lot. Many of the best lines in the remaining interviews appear in Joe Weixlmann's lengthy introduction, so one can save a lot of repetition and time by skimming that one first.