I Call Myself an Artist: Writings By and About Charles Johnson

by Rudolph P. Byrd (Editor)

Charles Johnson is one of the most talented artists currently working in America. All of his novels have been widely praised and read. Middle Passage won the National Book Award and established Johnson in the tradition of Ralph Ellison, one of his idols. In 1998 he was the recipient of one of the prestigious MacArthur "Genius" awards. Though best known for his fiction, Johnson is also an accomplished essayist, reviewer, scriptwriter, and cartoonist. This collection gathers together a rich sampling of his work, including stories, speeches, cartoons, and interviews. A final section contains scholarly commentary by leading academic writers. I Call Myself an Artist provides a fascinating overview of the life work of one of America's most important creative minds.

398 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1999

About the author

Rudolph P. Byrd (Ph.D. Yale University) is the Goodrich C. White Professor of American Studies in the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts and the Department of African American Studies and the founding director of the James Weldon Johnson Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies at Emory University. He is the author and editor of ten books, including Jean Toomer’s Years with Gurdjieff; Essentials by Jean Toomer with Charles Johnson; Charles Johnson’s Novels: Writing the American Palimpsest; The Essential Writings of James Weldon Johnson; and with Alice Walker The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker. Among Professor Byrd’s awards and fellowships are an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at Harvard University; Visiting Scholar at the Bellagio Study and Conference Center; and the Thomas Jefferson Award from Emory University. He is a founding officer of the Alice Walker Literary Society.