Percival Everett

Percival Everett (born 1956) is an American writer and Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.

Life

Everett lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife, novelist Danzy Senna.

Career

While completing his MFA degree at Brown University, Everett wrote his first novel, "Suder" (1983), about Craig Suder, a Seattle Mariners third baseman in major league slump, both on and off the field. Everett's second novel, "Walk Me to the Distance" (1985), was later re-interpreted with an altered plot as an ABC TV movie entitled "Follow Your Heart". In this novel, David Larson returns from Vietnam and attempts to find the retarded son of a one-legged sheep rancher in Slut's Whole, Wyoming. "Cutting Lisa" (1986; re-issued 2000) begins with John Livesey meeting a man who has performed a caesarean section that prompts the protagonist to evaluate his relationships.

In 1987, Everett published "The Weather and Women Treat Me Fair: Stories", a collection of short stories. Everett published two books re-fashioning Greek myths in 1990: "Zulus", which combines the grotesque and the apocalypse, and "For Her Dark Skin", a new version of the Greek playwright Euripedes' Medea.

Stepping into the children's book marketplace, Everett authored "The One That Got Away" (1992), an illustrated book for young readers that follows three cowboys as they attempt to corral "ones," the mischievous numerals.

Returning to novels, Everett published his first book-length western, "God's Country", in 1994. In the novel, Curt Marder and his tracker Bubba search "God's country" for a wife Marder might not even want to find, but who has been kidnapped by bandits. A parody of westerns and the politics of race and gender, which includes a cross-dressing George Armstrong Custer). 1996 brought two more books from Everett. "Watershed" is another of Everett's books with a western setting, this time contemporary, focusing on loner hydrologist Robert Hawkes, who meets a Native American small person who helps him come to terms with the inter-relation of people. Also published in 1996 was a second collection of stories, "Big Picture".

In "Frenzy" (1997), Everett returns to Greek mythology where Dionysos' assistant, Vlepo, is forced to experience a "frenzy" of odd activities, including becoming lice and bedroom curtains at different times during the story, which he narrates, all so he can explain what the experiences are like to Dionysos, the half-god.

Highlighting Everett's knowledge of philosophy and literary theory, "Glyph" (1999) is the story within a story of Ralph, a baby who chooses not to speak but has extraordinary muscle-control and an IQ nearing 500, which he uses to write notes to his mother on a variety of literary topics based on books she supplies. Ralph is kidnapped a variety of times due to his special skills, and his odyssey (as "written" by four year old Ralph) teaches him more about love than intellect, even as Everett challenges the reader's intellect with philosophy and theory.

"Grand Canyon, Inc." (2001) is Everett's first novella. In it, Rhino Tanner attempts to tame Mother Nature with a commoditization of the Grand Canyon.

Everett also published the notable novel "Erasure" in 2001. In a reflection of Everett's own experience, the book focuses on the publishing industry's pigeon-holing of African American writers. The protagonist, Thelonious "Monk" Ellison, a professor of English literature is repeatedly criticized for not writing "black enough". Ellison is angered by the success of an Oprah-like book club's selection of what is supposedly contemporary black experience, but which in fact presents a stereotypical image. He composes a satirical response based on Richard Wright's "Native Son", which is entitled first "My Pafology" and then "Fuck". The Oprah-like talk show host, a Hollywood producer and a panel of famous novelists all prove more willing to accept the brutal, dehumanized black man of the novel than a middle-class intellectual like Ellison himself, who in turn has trouble facing impoverished blacks both real and fictional.

In a competition for the longest title ever, "A History of the African-American people (proposed) by Strom Thurmond, as told to Percival Everett and James Kincaid" (2004) might come close to winning. Continuing his look at the publishing industry, this epistolary novel chronicles "Percival Everett" and "James Kincaid" as they work with Thurmond (occasionally) and his aide's crazy assistant, Barton Wilkes, who orders the authors around even while he stalks them.

Also in 2004, Everett released "American Desert" and "Damned If I Do : Stories", another collection of short stories. In "American Desert", Ted Street plans to drown himself in the ocean but is killed in a traffic accident on the way there. Three days later, Street suddenly sits up in his casket at the funeral, his head still severed and without a beating heart. Throughout the rest of the novel Street, like many of Everett's characters, undergoes an odyssey of self-discovery about what being alive really means, exploring religion, revelation, faith, zealotry, love, family, media sensationalism, and death.

"Wounded: a novel" (2005) tells the story of John Hunt, a horse trainer confronted with hate crimes against a homosexual and a Native American. Unlike Robert Hawkes, however, John Hunt avoids getting mixed up in the political nature of these crimes, taking action only when he is forced to do so.

"The Water Cure" (2007) is Everett's most recent novel. The novel's protagonist, Ishmael Kidder, has had a successful career as a romance novelist, but after the death of his daughter his life takes a dark turn. In a remote cabin in New Mexico, Kidder has imprisoned a man he believes to be his daughter's killer. The book's title refers to one of the torture techniques Kidder uses on the man, namely waterboarding.

Poetry

Everett's collection of poetry, "re:f (gesture)" (2006), features one of his paintings on the front cover.

Other

Everett's introduction was added to the 2004 paperback edition of "The Jefferson Bible".

Honors

*PEN Center USA Award for Fiction
*Academy Award in Literature from The American Academy of Arts and Letters
*Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Fiction
*New American Writing Award
*PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award
*His stories have been included in the "Pushcart Prize Anthology" and "Best American Short Stories"
*Received an honorary Doctorate in 2008 from the College of Santa Fe.

Bibliography

*"Suder" (1983)
*"Walk Me to the Distance" (1985)
*"Cutting Lisa" (1986)
*"The Weather and Women Treat Me Fair: stories" (1987)
*"For Her Dark Skin" (1990)
*"Zulus (1990)
*"The One That Got Away" (1992)
*"God's Country: a novel" (1994)
*"Big picture: stories" (1996)
*"Watershed" (1996)
*"Frenzy" (1997)
*"Glyph: a novel" (1999)
*"Erasure: a novel" (2001)
*"Grand Canyon, Inc." (2001)
*"American desert: a novel" (2004)
*"Damned if I do: stories" (2004)
*"A History of the African-American people (proposed) by Strom Thurmond, as told to Percival Everett and James Kincaid" (with James Kincaid) (2004)
* "My California: Journeys by Great Writers" (contributor / 2004)
*"Wounded: a novel (2005)
*"re:f (gesture)" (2006), a collection of poetry
*"The Water Cure" (2007)

External links

* [http://www.blueflowerarts.com/percival.html Blue Flower Arts] one of Everett's "official" websites
* [http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birnbaum105.html IdentityTheory.com interview with Percival Everett (2003)]
* [http://www.usc.edu/about/arts/everett.html A USC Article about Percival Everett]
* [http://cwis.usc.edu/schools/college/faculty/faculty1003237.html Everett's USC Homepage]
* [http://www.villagevoice.com/specials/vls/182/everett.shtml "Object and Word" by Percival Everett]