RARA-AVIS: Wherefore Art thou, Chester?

Kevin Smith (kvnsmith@total.net)
Thu, 12 Mar 1998 11:41:48 -0500 Mea culpa.

I haven't read the Himes book, either. My excuse: couldn't find a copy. I
thought for sure some bookstore in town would have one. Boy, was I wrong! I
should have taken my own advice and used the ABE or something on the net.

It seems lately Himes has been getting an awful lot of respect, whereas
Chandler, Macdonald and Hammett (coincidentally all being published, as
well as Himes, by Black Lizard now in oversized, and therefore more
expensive paperbacks) have had it for years. The result: there's not even
many used copies around. I managed to find a few Himes, but not Rage in
Harlem. Did anyone else have problems finding a copy?

However, in reading up on Himes, I came across this tidbit: The
Coffin/Jones books were all published originally in French, in France,
except for the last one. Since Himes spent most of the latter part of his
life in Paris, I assume he was at ease with the language, but what I want
to know is: did he write them in French, or write them in English and
translate them into French? And did he do his own translation?

But I digress...

Kevin Smith
Web Guy for The Thrilling Detective Web Site
For info, mailto:kvnsmith@total.net

"Everybody loves a loser,
They wanna see him pay his dues,
Everybody loves a loser,
But they don't wanna stand in his shoes."
-Murray McLauchlan

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