Night Studies

by Cyrus Colter

Cyrus Colter's third and most ambitious novel follows the fortunes of John Calvin Knight--the fiery, driven leader of the Black Peoples Congress, a man whose life and career have developed as much in reaction to his father and the views of an earlier generation as to the awakening civil rights movements of his own era. But no matter how far John Calvin tries to separate himself from his father, it is his father's wisdom about family history--and the history of all African-Americans--that first inflames and ultimately engrosses the son, determining his life and its possible successes or failures.

775 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Eric Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What kinda person writes a 800 page novel?
A brilliant one!
This dude is( although he has passed from this world) the Black Dostoevsky.
I found this book at the NewBerry Library Book Sale and got it because the cover looked cool and it seemed somewhat interesting. Yea it was and then some.

This novel is a world wind of history and fiction. It jumps with a revolutionary leader in 1960's San Fran to his ancestor in Africa who as a child gets captured and sold off to America by an albino slave trader who goes mad with guilt. Then on to to Paris, then to Chicago during the Martin King Years were the revolutionary falls in love twice but loses both and almost goes insane, but not before he has a reckoning with his long lost and dying father. Yea it’s a head spinner. And with interesting effect, the characters speak as if they are from a Dostoevsky novel, but they are indeed Black! Sound confusing? Yea, brilliance some times be that way.

I started this book in earnest in Mexico, which means its water logged from the sea, so I'm trying to fight the urge to get another copy. That's how much I liked it.