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A Visitation of Spirits

Randall Kenan (Goodreads Author)

3.77 · Rating details · 532 ratings · 50 reviews

"Marks the debut of a very gifted writer.... Kenan speaks eloquently and with a great deal of courage."--Gloria Naylor

Randall Kenan's daring and innovative first novel weaves a vivid and horrific tale through the generations of a black Southern family.

Sixteen-year old Horace Cross is plagued by issues that hover in his impressionable spirit and take shape in his mind as lo ...more

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Paperback, 272 pages

Published January 25th 2000 by Vintage (first published 1989)

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Oct 24, 2011 jo rated it it was amazing

Recommended to jo by: Qiana Whitted

Shelves: african-american, blew-my-mind, queer, experimental

this book is so ridiculously good, i had to check and check again that this author has in fact written only one novel, and no fiction at all (at least in book form) since 1993. NINETEENNINETYTHREE???? what are you doing, randall kenan? can you pleasepleaseplease write us another novel?

what flows in the arteries of this magnificent mixture of narrative, hallucination/visitation, snippets of playwrightery, first-and-third-person chapters, old stories and present stories -- what keeps it alive and this book is so ridiculously good, i had to check and check again that this author has in fact written only one novel, and no fiction at all (at least in book form) since 1993. NINETEENNINETYTHREE???? what are you doing, randall kenan? can you pleasepleaseplease write us another novel?

what flows in the arteries of this magnificent mixture of narrative, hallucination/visitation, snippets of playwrightery, first-and-third-person chapters, old stories and present stories -- what keeps it alive and beautiful and luscious and irresistible -- is preternaturally beautiful language and a vision of african-americanness and religion and family and life's torments that only language this beautiful can convey properly. i found this book very painful. a friend of mine tells me it's about comics. to me it was about pain, weariness, endurance, exhaustion, sickness, and the consolation of death. maybe comics are about all of these things too (i'm sure my friend would say they are).

at the center of the novel is the predicament of horace, a high school gay boy who is tortured to the bone by his homosexuality. his grandfather is chief deacon and this means a lot in the small baptist community where he lives. religion and the sinfulness of his desire chase him everywhere he goes. because he has nothing else to turn to, he turns to magic; except it's home-made magic, list-ditch-effort magic. what results is a visitation of spirits or a visitation of inner demons, depending how you choose to read it.

intermingled with horace's hallucinatory/supernatural trip are various multi-vocal narratives, most notably a sunday trip by three of horace's family members (his grandfather, his cousin and his great-aunt -- if i have that right) to visit sick relatives. the trip's banality and pettiness acts as a counterpoint to horace's torments, but also speaks of family, of people's taking care of each other, of long-held secrets, or intergenerational miscommunication, of growing old, of loss, of aloneness, and, to some extent, of love.

and yet, painful as it is, this is not a bitter book. i at least didn't find it bitter. i found it gorgeous. there is an quasi-epic quasi-biblical passage toward the end that links all of horace's pain -- and by extension all the discomfort and defeat of the three in the car on their errand of mercy -- to slavery. the passage drips sadness and despair, but then it's also so incredibly beautiful, how can this beauty not contain seeds and seeds of hope?
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Nov 03, 2019 Raul Bimenyimana rated it liked it

Shelves: queer, african-african-diaspora

Truthfully, although I'm marking this as read, I only read 40% of this book. Certainly one of those books I personally wish I liked more than I did. I wanted to read this after reading Randall Kenan's wonderful story Wash Me.

I liked the fact that this story had a Black Southern gay teenager as the protagonist, I wish I could have pushed harder with the story, but I noticed I was pushing hard to like the story which is often an indicator that I should leave the book and hopefully return to it whe ...more

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Jan 19, 2010 Eric Aiello rated it liked it

Shelves: 50-book-challenge-2010

Goodreads seriously needs to consider putting in a rating system broken down into half-stars. I feel bad giving this only 3, but I don't feel satisfied enough to give it four. So, for the record, this gets 3 and one half stars from me!

Horace's story was fan-freaking-tastic. I was very invested in his break-down and his horror filled night. James Greene's narrative was also pretty interesting. Kenan has an uncanny ability to grotesquely and vividly describe the killings of things. In fact, some o ...more

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Apr 27, 2017 Timothy Urges rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Challenging and moving postmodernism.
Two men are haunted by identity and the lack thereof.

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Sep 23, 2011 David Carr rated it it was ok

It may be a notable artifact of its time and a significant step in its author's development, but I found this to be an immature and confused book. It uses hallucinatory passages to review the past, slips in and out of reality, and varies so wildly between coherence and an overboard striving for lyricism that I was annoyed throughout. The problem for me: I have to talk about this book twice to library audiences in the next couple of weeks, so I will talk about the extremes, the constraints and di ...more

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Feb 01, 2015 Mari rated it really liked it

This is a fascinatingly complex novel that explores the experience of adolescence in the rural south as an individual who is both black and queer. Kenan shows us how the the tension of religious and ethic expectations for behavior confront the struggles of individual difference--difference coded as "wrong." The novel is at once haunting, frightening, poignant and important. "A Visitation of Spirits" is a novel of troubled youth, of sexual awakening, of powerlessness, and of communal failure. It ...more

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Nov 15, 2008 J-L rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: everyone

I just finished re-reading this magical, heart-quickening, darkly erotic novel. I'm so in awe of Kenan's talent, courage and language. I wish him millions of readers all over the world for centuries to come. ...more

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Oct 07, 2020 Jonathan rated it it was amazing

I had not, sadly, heard of Randall Kenan until I read his obituary in the New York Times. I bought this book as my first foray into his work, and on the strength of just the first few pages I also bought his short story collection, Let the Dead Bury Their Dead. The voice(s) of this novel are staggering; I was fully absorbed from the first page and had trouble putting the book down until I reached the end. The characters are portrayed with all their flaws and strengths, and one of the central imp ...more

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Sep 09, 2020 Christopher Alonso rated it really liked it

Shelves: lgbtq

I'd had this book on my to-read list for some time and regrettably started it after Randall Kenan's passing. This is the kind of book I wish I'd been taught in a college course, blending gothic and magical realist elements. Queer in form and everything's a symbol. I'm excited to read Kenan's body of work. ...more

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Jun 26, 2017 Will Ginn rated it liked it

A Visitation of Spirits by Randall Kenan is a work of contemporary southern literature that focuses on the the current African American experience in a small town in North Carolina across four generations. The Cross family, as their surname seems to conspicuously invoke, are steeped in the rhythm and rituals of the southern locale: they attend church every Sunday, where they are mainstay leaders of the congregation, and this institution functions as the animating spoke around which the family re A Visitation of Spirits by Randall Kenan is a work of contemporary southern literature that focuses on the the current African American experience in a small town in North Carolina across four generations. The Cross family, as their surname seems to conspicuously invoke, are steeped in the rhythm and rituals of the southern locale: they attend church every Sunday, where they are mainstay leaders of the congregation, and this institution functions as the animating spoke around which the family revolves. Although the church has served a spiritual and cultural wellspring for the family, not to mention others, for sometime, the work positions it as an institution that is not amenable to all of its congregates, especially ones coming of age in a new South.

The narrative intermingles the stories of four members of the Cross family, all of whom represent different generations of the storied clan, but the real narrative thrust of the work lies in the plot line of the family member of the most recent generation, Horace Cross, who is unable to reconcile his sexuality with his destiny as the black male heir apparent to one of the most important African American families in the town. Intellectual, progressive, and homosexual, Horace does not quite fit into any of the established roles typical for a man of his station, reaching a point where he even refuses to force a fit, unlike family members of earlier generations, such as James. As such, in the mid stride of his teenage years Horace faces a crisis point of loneliness, failure, and shame, which are affects typical of the queer experience, especially at that age.

Alone, Horace's story is terribly compelling, but what makes it sadly magical is how the narrative unfolds this crisis point and the way in which he deals with it. For the novel, as it were, starts with Horace in crisis, choosing to give himself over to his various demons that have plagued him for some time. Yet the aforementioned demons are not figurative ones; in fact, in an early chapter Horace performs some necromancy that summons all manner of evil spirits into his presence, choosing to make material very immaterial burdens that have haunted him for some time. While interesting alone for their gothic magic realism quality, the spirits also serve an important narrative device: in a Dickensian quasi flashback sequence reminiscent of A Christmas Carol, the spirits transport Horace to different locations throughout the community that induce a series of coming of age flashbacks, making Horace relive a number of pivotal moments in his young life. Where this work departs from one of Dickens most popular works, however, is that while Horace, much like Scrooge, might have the agency to change his future path--to radically embrace his identity instead of concealing it--his future would navigate uncharted territory without a support system that very well might put him in closer proximity to being ostracized and encountering violence. Changing to embrace one's identity in this situation might serve one's own spirit, but, unlike Scrooge's change, it would not be perceived as a virtuous societal one eighty. As such, Horace's state of crisis eventually leads hims to commit a cataclysmic action that leaves him in an even more abject place than the one readers find him in at the beginning of the work. While the narrative pays due respect to tradition throughout the work, there is the palpable sense that sometimes traditions have to change to make life more livable. If this were more possible, Horace's coming of age and situation at the end of the novel might look quite different.

Overall, A Visitation of Spirits has large swaths of brilliance, specifically the whole of Horace's plot line. One wishes that the crisscrossing stories of the older Cross family members, who are importantly included to serve as foils to the younger generation, were as well-drawn and interesting to read. Imperfect as the novel may be as a whole, though, Kenan's debut novel firmly places him in the artistic and intellectual legacy of James Baldwin, meditating on similar themes in a more contemporary landscape. It is an important piece of contemporary African American literature, southern literature, and queer literature.

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Mar 22, 2011 paulA neves rated it it was ok

It is always an accomplishment when a writer completes a novel, never mind publishes one. Anyone who does the former gets immediate points, but doing the latter doesn’t mean it’s a great novel or even a very good one. Randall Kenan’s first novel, 1989’s A Visitation of Spirits, is neither great nor very good, but it is a notable entry in post- Alice Walker and Toni Morrison African American, particularly Gen X African American, fiction. Kenan could very well find his niche somewhere between thes It is always an accomplishment when a writer completes a novel, never mind publishes one. Anyone who does the former gets immediate points, but doing the latter doesn’t mean it’s a great novel or even a very good one. Randall Kenan’s first novel, 1989’s A Visitation of Spirits, is neither great nor very good, but it is a notable entry in post- Alice Walker and Toni Morrison African American, particularly Gen X African American, fiction. Kenan could very well find his niche somewhere between these giants and younger writers like Colson Whitehead. Time will tell.

Spirits, at its simplest, recounts the story of two branches of the Cross family, the oldest, most well-respected and prominent African American family in the tobacco-farming area in and around Tim’s Creek, North Carolina. The family’s (many) trials and (meager) triumphs are told though the experiences of two protagonists, cousins Horace Cross and James (Jimmy) Malachai Greene, and two subsidiary but important characters, brother and sister-in law Zeke and Ruth Cross, who are, respectively, Horace’s grandfather and aunt, and Jimmy’s great uncle and aunt. If this basic lineage sounds a bit confusing, just wait: That’s just the main characters. These four characters then figure in a plot that intersperses their experiences over the course of a day, but not the same day. Horace’s story unfolds in one 24 hour period in the past and Jimmy, Zeke’s and Ruth’s over another in the present. Within these two different days, each character’s present and past and the family’s overall history unspools. Still with me? Ok, well then these past/present intercuts occur within five sections whose titles attest to the stain of slavery and both the saving and suppressing role of spirituality in this African American family: White Sorcery; Black Necromancy; Holy Science; Old Demonology; and Old Gods, New Demons. Within these five sections are various chapters focusing either on Horace or Jimmy, Ruth and Zeke.

Although Kenan plots with Dickensian zeal—and borrows from Dicken’s A Christmas Carol to tell Horace’s story, the structure is elaborate and distracting. The narrative’s heart is strained by the competing demands of too many characters, none of whom, except Horace, is realized enough for readers to understand why they should care about the family’s unraveling. Too bad because Kenan has some beautiful intentions here: To depict a family’s rise and fall through its own pride and prejudices, the key to its self-preservation and self-combustion a religiosity whose dualities are embodied in 16-year-old Horace’s struggles with his homosexuality. Indeed, Kenan best hits his stride with Horace, a scholar-athlete who represents the Crosses’ next great hope. Unfortunately, Horace is young, black, gay and gifted in a black Southern Baptist family, in a mid-1980’s rural, bigoted North Carolinian community decades removed, if not in actual chronology then attitude, from Stonewall. His resources, outside his own imagination, are few; this is unfortunate because his (literal) salvation could have been the family’s. Unfortunately, Kenan only hints at this.
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Aug 27, 2014 Anna C rated it liked it

Shelves: lgbtq

Funny story regarding this book. Several years ago, I was invited to a writing scholarship contest at college in North Carolina. I was thrilled (the college was one of my top choices) and agreed. The weekend I was there, Randall Kenan was going to present on "A Visitation of Spirits," so they sent me a free copy of the novel. A few weeks later, I did the math and realized that since I would have to buy my own plane ticket, I would lose money even if I won the scholarship. I backed out of the wee Funny story regarding this book. Several years ago, I was invited to a writing scholarship contest at college in North Carolina. I was thrilled (the college was one of my top choices) and agreed. The weekend I was there, Randall Kenan was going to present on "A Visitation of Spirits," so they sent me a free copy of the novel. A few weeks later, I did the math and realized that since I would have to buy my own plane ticket, I would lose money even if I won the scholarship. I backed out of the weekend, but I got to keep the novel. I have FINALLY gotten around to reading it.

This novel is told through three points of view. The first and most intriguing is that of Horace Cross, a sixteen-year old who spends a (quite literally) demon-haunted night while to confront his homosexuality. Horace's sections, the backbone of the novel, show the unfathomable inner anguish of a gay black man in a small, Baptist community. The climax of this section comes toward the end, where Kenan ties Horace's homosexuality into a long history of African-American pain. That part gave me chills.

However, the second and third points of view dragged down the novel tremendously. There are many sections narrated in first person by Horace's preacher cousin, Jimmy. Although these reach a wonderful emotional pay-off at the end, they seemed rather pointless for most of the novel. Jimmy spends many of his sections talking about his tumultuous relationship with his wife and describing the slaughter of animals; though these sections were wonderfully written, I wasn't sure what they contributed to the novel.

For me, the worst part of the novel was the third PoV. I was so confused by this that I'm not even entirely sure what was going on. As far as I can tell, a few of Horace's relatives take a day-trip to visit a sick cousin. One of them seems to be named Zeke (is he the Ezekiel that people mention throughout the book?) and one is named Ruth (is she Ruthester or someone different?) and Zeke and Ruth fight a lot (are they an old married couple). Horace's family tree is complicated, and I wasn't even sure who these people were, let alone what they contributed to the plot. ...more

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May 05, 2015 Daniela rated it really liked it

I initially checked out this book because it was written by one of my former creative writing professor, and I was curious to read something he’d written. This book is set in the fictional town of Tims Creek, North Carolina, where he has set his other fictional stories.
A Visitation of Spirits tells the story of Horace Cross, a “16-year-old descendant of slaves and deacons of the church,” who wants to escape his life by transforming into a bird. He is gay, but he has been raised to believe that h I initially checked out this book because it was written by one of my former creative writing professor, and I was curious to read something he’d written. This book is set in the fictional town of Tims Creek, North Carolina, where he has set his other fictional stories.
A Visitation of Spirits tells the story of Horace Cross, a “16-year-old descendant of slaves and deacons of the church,” who wants to escape his life by transforming into a bird. He is gay, but he has been raised to believe that homosexuality is a sin, and he has not been able to accept this part of himself. The books alternates between passages from Horace’s night of horrors and chapters from the perspective of his cousin Jimmy Greene, grandfather Ezekiel Cross, and Great Aunt Ruth.
I liked the way the chapters switched from Horace’s story, set in the spring of 1984, to the story with Jimmy, Ezekiel, and Ruth set in December 1985 as well as chapters written in the first person narrated by Jimmy. One spring night, Horace tries to do a spell, hoping to that will turn him into a bird to help him escape from his life. I felt this urgency as I read his chapters, trying to find out what would happen to him that night. In December 1985, Jimmy Greene, drives Ezekiel and Ruth up to visit a family member who is sick (and probably dying) in the hospital. The chapters with Jimmy, Zeke, and Ruth foreshadow things that happen to Horace during his night. The first-person chapters from Jimmy’s perspective provide additional insights to the background of the Cross family. The book is written in a sort of non-linear narration, which I like.
The writing was pretty solid, and the story was pretty good, especially for a first novel. It took me a few days to read through just because I personally needed a break. It did keep me engaged because I was very interested to find out what happened to Horace as well as Jimmy, Ezekiel, and Ruth. I do like that Kenan has written other fiction also set in Tims Creeks, and I would like to read some more. He has a short story collection called Let the Dead Bury Their Dead that I would like to read.
Overall Rating: A- ...more

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Jun 10, 2019 Katie Winkler rated it it was amazing

The best book I've read in a long time. Funny, frightening, insightful, nostalgic--a picture of life in North Carolina in the 80's that despite a few cultural differences is not so unlike my own childhood growing up in, for the most part, East Central Alabama. I bought Randal Kenan's debut novel when I went to a North Carolina Writers' Network conference a while ago, but just got around to reading his book. Kenan was the keynote speaker at the conference, and I was so impressed with him, that I ...more

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Jan 22, 2015 Elizabeth rated it liked it

Shelves: southern-lit

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. “Though he remembered remembering. . . . It was neither clear nor chronological, and the images, the shards of feelings slicing at his heart caused him more confusion” (Kenan 139)
In A Visitation of Spirits, Randall Kenan uses multiple perspectives, genres, and points in time to demonstrate that the truth of an event—in this case, a young man’s suicide—cannot be found in one linear storyline. Kenan both emphasizes and undermines the importance of chronology by beginning most chapters with the da ...more

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Apr 26, 2015 Patty rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2015, literary-fiction, poc-author, lgbt

Horace is a young black man in rural North Carolina: brilliant, the hope of his family and school. But Horace is so distraught with himself (exactly why he feels this way takes a while for the book to reveal) that he attempts a magic spell to transform into a bird, so that he won't have to live a human life. Unfortunately, he instead summons a demon which takes him over and forces him to do various weird and terrible things. Or maybe he has a mental break that he interprets as a demon; the book ...more

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May 26, 2019 Geoffrey Bateman rated it it was amazing

Shelves: teaching-and-research, lgbtq, fiction, vocational-discernment, critical-race-studies, wgs, queer-theory-studies, american-lit

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 27, 2012 Cory Thomas rated it really liked it

Debut novel from Kenan. Experimental choices--use of stage directions for dialogue, for example--enhanced the narrative without distracting from the story. Plot centers on struggles of Horace & Jimmy, cousins from the small Southern town of Tim's Creek (also used by Kenan in his excellent "Let the Dead Bury Their Dead"). Horace faces emotional and literal demons, while Jimmy copes with losses and faith. Tangential plotline with Ruth and Ezekiel rambled, but still retained a degree of relevance t ...more

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Jun 01, 2019 Israel Guerrero rated it really liked it

i liked it - i made a family tree to help me out with the characters lineage and story - also there's lots of imagery and the description of Horace's room was a delight to read ...more

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May 11, 2015 Joseph rated it liked it

Kenan's prose is frequently dazzling and the story provides an important and distinct experience outside of the traditional southern narrative. It was Kenan's first novel and there is undeniable brilliance and risk-taking. I didn't really get into the structural affinity with Dickens's Christmas Carol or perhaps I just didn't understand it. I was glad to spend some time with this voice from North Carolina (a state of which I am sadly quite ignorant). ...more

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Sep 17, 2008 Bee rated it it was amazing

I actually read this book years ago but it is definitely one of my favorites. It is beautifully written and I was amazed that this was his first novel. I don't understand why Randall Kenan is not on the level of a Toni Morrison for example. He's that good. ...more

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Jan 18, 2010 Sarah rated it liked it

This was very Toni Morrison-esque. It switched narrators, even from first to third. It skipped through time. It even changed genres here and there. Parts were good, but I just didn't have concentration that it took to truly understand what was going on at each moment. I kept wanting a family tree to keep everyone straight. It would have been better if I had given more of a crap. ...more

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Oct 17, 2013 Whitney West rated it it was ok

If you enjoy reading complex hard to understand book then this is the book for you. The plot jumps around and its hard to keep up with who is talking throughout the book. The concept is interesting however, I was disappointed at the ending. I only read this book for a college class and I won't read it again unless I have to for another class. ...more

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Jul 28, 2008 Ashley Lucas rated it really liked it

Kenan teaches at UNC and was raised in a small town in North Carolina, much like the one where he sets this novel. The novel has an interesting structure and some very poignant moments, but it wasn't quite as captivating as I'd hoped. ...more

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Nov 08, 2018 Sanjay Varma rated it did not like it

Shelves: abandoned, novels

The narrative is opaque and non-linear, and therefore requires a huge investment of reader's attention, but the payoff is not good enough.

I do admire the author’s ambition to try different narrative techniques. The author has good ideas but can’t make them work. ...more

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Apr 29, 2007 Morgan Williams rated it really liked it

Shelves: literaryfiction

A somewhat strange, but very successful and beautifully written book. This is Randall Kenan's first novel, but it is so well done that it is hard to tell. ...more

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Sep 11, 2008 Barbara rated it liked it

This book is about a gay black kid living in the south who's pondering whether to kill himself, or everyone else. After I read this I had very intense dreams. ...more

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Dec 30, 2009 Benjamin Thomas Sutpen added it

http://sensemania.blogspot.com/2007/1... ...more

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Aug 21, 2010 Victoria Innes rated it it was amazing

Haunting and beautiful, this book broke my heart!

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Oct 29, 2010 Chelsea Hutchins rated it liked it

A super intense read. It's definitely not for the faint of heart, but it makes you think. ...more

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About Randall Kenan

Randall Kenan

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Randall Kenan's first novel, A Visitation of Spirits was published by Grove Press in 1989; and a collection of stories, Let the Dead Bury Their Dead, was published in 1992 by Harcourt, Brace. That collection was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Fiction, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and was among The New York Times Notable Books of 1992. He is also th Randall Kenan's first novel, A Visitation of Spirits was published by Grove Press in 1989; and a collection of stories, Let the Dead Bury Their Dead, was published in 1992 by Harcourt, Brace. That collection was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Fiction, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and was among The New York Times Notable Books of 1992. He is also the author of a young adult biography of James Baldwin (1993), and wrote the text for Norman Mauskoff=s book of photographs, A Time Not Here: The Mississippi Delta (1997). Walking on Water: Black American Lives at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1999, and was nominated for the Southern Book Award. His latest book, The Fire This Time, was published in May 2007. He is currently working on a novel, There’s A Man Going Round Taking Names, set in North Carolina and New York City; and a book about the North Carolina hog industry.

He was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1963, and spent his childhood in Chinquapin, North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received a B.A. in English in 1985. From 1985 to 1989 he worked on the editorial staff of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, publishers. In 1989 he began teaching writing at Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University. He was the first William Blackburn Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Duke University in the fall of 1994, and the Edourd Morot-Sir Visiting Professor of Creating Writing at his alma mater in 1995. He was the John and Renee Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi, Oxford (1997-98),Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Memphis, and held the Lehman-Brady Professorship at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. He has also taught urban literature at Vassar College.

He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Writers Award, the Sherwood Anderson Award, the John Dos Passos Prize, and was the 1997 Rome Prize winner from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Currently he is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UNC-Chapel Hill.
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