Re: RARA-AVIS: Willeford


David Bell (belldj@muohio.edu)
Fri, 31 Dec 1999 17:46:10 -0500


It's been a long time since I've read Pick-Up, but I never took that last line literally. I thought it was just that in his isolation, loneliness etc, he felt like a Negro would, especially since the story takes place over thirty years ago. Does anyone know what Willeford himself ever said about it? David

Ron Clinton wrote:

> > By contrast, I have read every Willeford book the same
> > day I got it. This guy must have been the most
> > compelling writer in the entire genre. Nobody writes
> > like him.
>
> I just finished PICK-UP by Willeford - a very dreary and depressing look at
> a couple of life's failures and throwaways. But, still, very
> engrossing...kind of like watching a car wreck. A question, though, for
> those more familiar with Willeford's work than me: the last line of the
> novel, where he announces his race as "Negro". Perhaps I didn't understand
> the significance of this proclamation...was there more to it than that? My
> instant reaction was, "Umm, okay...*and*?" It seemed to have been posed as
> an almost O'Henry like twist - yet it didn't seem to me to offer anything to
> the book's prior storyline nor cast any new light on what had come before
> it. Did I miss something? Or am I just making too much of what was simply
> meant as a throwaway last line?
>
> Ron Clinton
>
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