With a superb ear for the voices of his characters, and a spare but riveting prose, Reginald McKnight examines the plight of the outsider, the alien. He populates these funny, disturbing, and lyrical stories with an unforgettable chorus of cultural hybrids: an American anthropologist compiling proverbs and seeking a magic elixir in Senegal; a multiethnic community of military officers, recruits, and maintenance staff wrestling with their prejudices; two awkward young boys trying to navigate friendship on a Louisiana army base. White Boys is Reginald McKnight's perfect evocation of America's literary heritage and ambition-an imaginative synergy of style, thought, and storytelling genius. Reginald McKnight teaches at the University of Michigan. He has received an NEA Grant, an O. Henry Award, a Whiting Award, and the Drue Heinz Literature Prize. His previous work includes "Moustapha's Eclipse," " I Get on the Bus," and "The Kind of Light That Shines on Texas." "He Sleeps" is his most recent work. With a superb ear for the voices of his characters, and a spare but riveting prose style, Reginald McKnight examines the plight of the outsider, the alien. He populates these funny, disturbing, and lyrical stories with an unforgettable chorus of cultural hybrids: an American anthropologist compiling proverbs and seeking a magic elixir in Senegal; a multiethnic community of military officers, recruits, and maintenance staff wrestling with their prejudices; two awkward young boys trying to navigate friendship on a Louisiana army base. "White Boys" is Reginald McKnight's perfect evocation of America's literary heritage and ambition--an imaginative synergy of style, thought, and storytelling genius. "McKnight is a true cartographer of our inner lives, mapping our hearts and souls, our spirits and dreams with lyricism that many artists aspire to but few achieve."--Rohan B. Preston, "The Washington Post Book World " "McKnight orchestrates a vivid drama of talk . . . What wins you over is his attentiveness to the complexities of racial antagonism."--Rand Richards Cooper, "The New York Times Book Review" "I have believed for a long time that Reginald McKnight is one the best writers we have, and this collection solidly reinforces that belief."--Larry Brown, author of "Father and Son" "Splendidly precise . . . McKnight eloquently confirms he is an African American writer more interested in the confusions of race than in schematic victim-victimizer truisms."--Michael Upchurch, "The Seattle Times"
- ISBN10 0805061711
- ISBN13 9780805061710
- Publish Date 15 June 1999 (first published 15 January 1998)
- Publish Status Out of Stock
- Out of Print 11 December 2011
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Henry Holt & Company Inc
- Imprint Owl Books,U.S.
- Format Paperback
- Pages 214
- Language English