Eddy L. Harris

Eddy L. Harris

Eddy L. Harris, a creative nonfiction author, spent his early years in New York City before moving to suburban Saint Louis, Missouri at age 10. He graduated from the Saint Louis Priory School and Stanford University. Harris has served as a Visiting Writer in Residence at Washington University in St. Louis and as a faculty member in Goucher College's writing program, and currently lives in France.

Works

Harris published his first work, "Mississippi Solo," an account of his journey down the entire length of the nation's major waterway, in 1988. This work combined aspects of journalism, travel writing, autobiography and memoir, and personal reflection, and, as with Harris's subsequent works, focused specifically on questions of African-American identity in relation to history and place. "Mississippi Solo" was the 2003-2004 selection of Missouri ReadMOre, a statewide book-reading program, and Harris received the Missouri Governor's Humanities Award for this work in 2004.

His second book, "Native Stranger," a critical and unsparing account of his journey through Africa, led to a loss of some Black readers. Instead of a valentine, Harris described the poverty and corruption he witnessed in many places, as well as the despair he both saw and felt at times. He has said in an interview that after the book's publication, some Black readers even showed up at readings to denounce him. [ [http://www.rolfpotts.com/writers/index.php?writer=Eddy+L.+Harris Rolf Potts' Interview with Eddy Harris] ]

In a 2005 interview with Missy Raterman and Zoe Wexler in "nidus", a literary and arts journal based at the University of Pittsburgh, Harris described his work as "certainly travel, because it has some aspects of travel in it, though it isn't like Paul Theroux's travel books. Essay works best for me because I just like the idea of being an essayist. It is memoirist because it is me and my memories -- but that's a marketing thing." [ [http://www.pitt.edu/~nidus/current/harris.html Location and Revision: Discussing Place with Eddy L. Harris, "nidus", No. 5, 2005] ] In the same interview, he questioned the automatic categorization of him as a "Black" writer and its effects on how his work might be read, though he also acknowledged his desire for his work to create bridges both within and outside Black culture.

Practically unrecognized in the USA and nearly out of print, he now lives in France where he has been awarded the Prix du Livre Poitou-Charentes for "Still Life in Harlem" (published as "Harlem" in France) and his work has been acknowledged by the Centre National du Livre -- notably for Jupiter et Moi, a memoir about the life of a black man and his son.

" [Harris] is not your everyday tourist. His travels almost always have a purpose." USA Today

"... these wanderings have brought him to some fragile peace." People Magazine

"... Most notable for the bridges he builds with other people." San Francisco Chronicle

Literary Influences

*James Baldwin
*Truman Capote
*John Steinbeck

Books

*"A Mississippi Solo", 1988.
*"Native Stranger", 1992. (Selected as a "New York Times" Notable Book of 1992)
*"South of Haunted Dreams", 1993.
*"Still Life in Harlem", 1996. (Selected as a "New York Times" Notable Book of 1997)
*"Jupiter et Moi", 2005.

External links

* [http://www.eddyharris.com/biography.htm Eddy Harris's Website]
* [http://www.rolfpotts.com/writers/index.php?writer=Eddy+L.+Harris Rolf Potts' Eddy Harris page]
* [http://archive.salon.com/jan97/interview970106.html David Talbot's Salon.com Interview with Eddy Harris]
* [http://www.pitt.edu/~nidus/current/harris.html An Interview with Eddy Harris]

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • List of people with surname Harris — Harris is an English language surname with a variety of spellings.A list of notable people sharing the surname Harris is shown here. Only the Harris spelling is considered here.List of well known people with surname HarrisA* A. J. Harris (born… …   Wikipedia

  • Virginia Harris — Virginia S. Harris was Publisher of The Writings of Mary Baker Eddy, President and founding Trustee of The Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity and Chair of The Christian Science Board of Directors between 1990 and 2004. In… …   Wikipedia

  • Mary Baker Eddy — (1821–1910) Mary Baker Eddy Full name Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) Born July 16, 1821(1821 07 16) Bow, New Hampshire …   Wikipedia

  • Deborah Eddy — Member of the Washington House of Representatives from the 48th district In office 2006 Personal details Political party Democratic Spouse(s) Jon Residence Kirkla …   Wikipedia

  • Big Eddy — ist der Name mehrerer Seen in den Vereinigten Staaten: Big Eddy (Georgia) Big Eddy (George County, Mississippi) Big Eddy (Greene County, Mississippi) Big Eddy (Oregon) Big Eddy (Tennessee) Big Eddy (Harris County, Texas) Big Eddy (Jasper County,… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Don "Sugarcane" Harris — Harris performing in Hamburg, 1971 Background information Birth name Don Francis Bowman Harris …   Wikipedia

  • Murray M. Harris — (* 1866 in Illinois; † 1922) war ein US amerikanischer Orgelbauer. Er gilt als „Vater des Orgelbaus“ im US amerikanischen Westen. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Werkliste (Auswahl) 3 Literatur …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Eddie Harris — (* 20. Oktober 1934[1] in Chicago; † 5. November 1996 in Los Angeles) war ein US amerikanischer Tenorsaxophonist. Obwohl er einer der populärsten Jazzmusiker seiner Tage war und der erste, der für eine Auskopplung aus seinem Album Exodus to Jazz… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Barbara Harris (singer) — Barbara Ann Harris (born August 18, 1945 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina) is an African American R B singer, best known as a member of the 1960s girl group The Toys.Barbara started singing in her hometown churches at an early age, and moved to… …   Wikipedia

  • Made in USA (Eddy Mitchell) — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Made in USA. Made in USA est le seizième album studio d Eddy Mitchell sorti en 1975. Titres Face A Une terre promise (Claude Moine / Chuck Berry)(titre original : Promised land) 3:03 Les traîne tard et les… …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”