RARA-AVIS: slim/goines
michael david sharp (msharp@umich.edu)
Mon, 8 Mar 1999 11:02:48 -0500 (EST)
I think reading Iceberg Slim and/or Donald Goines is a great
idea (if only
bec. I can actually get my hands on these books). True, their
novels can
be grim and brutal, but they are incredibly important. Of
course, so is
Himes, and we should read him (again?) some time, but it's my
guess that
fewer people will have read Goines or Slim, and so maybe it
would be nice
to focus on them for a couple of months. I worry, though, about
the
conversation about their works degenerating into a "this is
offensive/no
it's great art" kind of debate, where people end up getting
defensive and
talking past each other. Not that anyone here would do that.
Still, I vote
we read *Mama Black Widow* or *Pimp* or *Whoreson* or
*Dopefiend*. I'm
pretty sure most of Slim's and Goines's work is in print.
--Michael
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