RARA-AVIS: A Rage In Harlem
Peter Walker (peter@thedales.demon.co.uk)
Sat, 14 Mar 1998 15:56:09 +0000
I have read "A Rage in Harlem" but it was a while ago. Two
immediate
impresions 1.It was very funny indeed and 2.It was brutal (Take
the
unsentimental way Jackson's brother (The nun) gets dealt
with).
On a sort of related point the film version of "A Rage in
Harlem" was
terrible - hard to credit just how bad it was and how untrue to
the
books - but I recently saw a film version of a Himes book which
captured
their style in an amazing way - "Cotton Comes to Harlem" -
Directed by
Ossie Davis with Raymond St. Jacques as Coffin Ed Johnson and
Godfrey
Cambridge as Grave Digger Jones. It was actually really good
and great
fun.
Anyway - my last point would be to say these are great books
and if you
can track down one of the bits of writing James Sallis did
about Himes
(details on request) you wont be disappointed. Himes should be
regarded
- if he isn't already - as one of crime/literatures
greats.
--
Peter Walker
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