Giving “James” a Voice: Percival Everett on His Reimagining of Huck Finn | Amanpour and Company

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  • Опубликовано: 11 апр 2024
  • The work of Percival Everett landed in the spotlight when his novel "Erasure" hit the big screen in the movie adaptation "American Fiction." A biting satire of racial stereotypes in the literary world, "American Fiction" took home the Oscar for best adapted screenplay. Hard on the heels of its success, Everett is back with a new book, this time taking a deeper look at literature itself. "James" is a reimagining of "Huckleberry Finn," usurping Mark Twain’s protagonist to put Jim, Huck’s enslaved sidekick, front and center. Everett joins the show to discuss how he gave the iconic character a powerful new voice.
    Originally aired on April 12, 2024
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Комментарии • 33

  • @mikeyb7263
    @mikeyb7263 Месяц назад +6

    I'd love to see them bound together. Old testament/new testament kind of thing.

  • @geinikan1kan
    @geinikan1kan Месяц назад +5

    Yes! Just watched an Alan Moore vid about reading and writing. Tom Sawyer turns Jim’s escape into a Romantic gesture. Twain was definitely mocking such an idea.

    • @Stratmanable
      @Stratmanable Месяц назад

      Huckleberry Finn, not Tom Sawyer.
      Tell me you haven't read either without telling me you haven't read either.

    • @geinikan1kan
      @geinikan1kan Месяц назад +1

      @@Stratmanable Tom Sawyer appears as a character in Huckleberry Finn. D'uh. You tell me you haven't read Huck without saying it.

    • @Stratmanable
      @Stratmanable Месяц назад +3

      @@geinikan1kan I know he does. I merely misunderstood your comment. Upon rereading, you have my apologies. My response was really snotty.

    • @geinikan1kan
      @geinikan1kan Месяц назад +2

      @@Stratmanable no problem. The "tell me . . ." meme is a trap for the person who uses it I'm afraid. Apology accepted.

    • @aishabintabubakr4944
      @aishabintabubakr4944 22 дня назад

      Both books suck.
      Like who cares....Percival everett is a small ego-ed racist

  • @emmahardesty4330
    @emmahardesty4330 Месяц назад +2

    Very glad Everett has written this book, a must have. Never liked Huck Finn because he treats Jim like he's a child. Never been willing to overlook Twain's blindness, however.

    • @Stratmanable
      @Stratmanable Месяц назад

      Twain isn't blind. HUCK is blind. Huck is NOT the hero of his story. He is illiterate, ignorant, superstitious, and credulous, which makes his treatment of Jim all the more galling.
      And that's exactly the point. Treating adult black men like children was de rigeur in southern daily life up until, well...right now actually.
      If you want to show how wrong something is, simply show it, and leave the moralizing to the reader.
      Twain wrote the character of Huck to, among other things, paint a picture of how white folks, including poor white folks, infantilized black adult men, when all the while it's the white folks who behave the most like children.
      Twain's satire is focused sharply on the foolish ways white people in all social strata behave.
      Twain reveals his sharpness by writing characters who clearly are not.

    • @imperialmotoring3789
      @imperialmotoring3789 Месяц назад +2

      You missed the entire point of the book.

    • @Stratmanable
      @Stratmanable Месяц назад +2

      @imperialmotoring3789 She did indeed.
      Twain isn't blind. Huck is.

    • @imperialmotoring3789
      @imperialmotoring3789 Месяц назад

      @@Stratmanable Exactly! Twain chose to use that word for Jim because he knew the impact of that word, to show how offensive the Democrats were with their slaveholding. Democrats censored that book because it made them look bad.

    • @aishabintabubakr4944
      @aishabintabubakr4944 23 дня назад

      Huck Finn sucks with Percival's small penis insight getting involved.
      Think about how much he hates himself to write this

  • @blueberry-ri7eb
    @blueberry-ri7eb Месяц назад +1

    Doesn't suffering harden everyone?

  • @beth3535
    @beth3535 Месяц назад

    Issacson is consistently in awe and pandering.

    • @HomeAtLast501
      @HomeAtLast501 Месяц назад

      He's exceedingly unimpressive and uninteresting. But it's CNN --- what do you expect?

    • @beth3535
      @beth3535 Месяц назад

      @@HomeAtLast501 Well Issacson is widely used for this role and has published several books, which certainly qualifies him otherwise. For me, it has lessened my interest in reading them.

    • @HomeAtLast501
      @HomeAtLast501 Месяц назад

      @@beth3535 Being a sycophant makes you non-threatening to interview subjects, which gives you easier access. Not good for readers, however.

  • @tarnopol
    @tarnopol 27 дней назад

    Yes, improve on Twain. That sounds like a doable goal.

    • @aishabintabubakr4944
      @aishabintabubakr4944 23 дня назад

      Taking a dump in a toilet improves on ALL of Twain's works

    • @tarnopol
      @tarnopol 22 дня назад

      @@aishabintabubakr4944 Spoken like a true moron.

  • @thomasdequincey5811
    @thomasdequincey5811 Месяц назад +2

    The dude actually said "Mark Twain's version of Huckleberry Finn". The fool. There is 'Huckleberry Finn' written by Mark Twain. Period. Everything else is a fever dream.

    • @aishabintabubakr4944
      @aishabintabubakr4944 23 дня назад

      His self-loathing should be mocked

    • @tarnopol
      @tarnopol 22 дня назад

      @@aishabintabubakr4944 And yours should be encouraged.

    • @aishabintabubakr4944
      @aishabintabubakr4944 22 дня назад

      @@tarnopol
      That's funny....because I don't need to re-write a 150 year old book because it triggers me.; especially a 💩 book like Huck Finn

    • @tarnopol
      @tarnopol 22 дня назад

      @@aishabintabubakr4944 You’ e never read it, c’mon.

    • @aishabintabubakr4944
      @aishabintabubakr4944 21 день назад

      @@tarnopol
      I like how Huck's realization not to be a little 💩 is when the Prince and the Dauphin try to rob that family with the girl Huck was thirsty for (who just so happened to be related to Tom Sawyer)

  • @HomeAtLast501
    @HomeAtLast501 Месяц назад +1

    Thank god the nation ended slavery a long time ago, and Dr. King's dream has been achieved, with our nation electing a black man president twice, a black woman vice president once, and blacks can get novels published over and over and over again.

    • @aishabintabubakr4944
      @aishabintabubakr4944 23 дня назад

      Percival is a small pee-pee racist

    • @aishabintabubakr4944
      @aishabintabubakr4944 22 дня назад

      Didn't Evereet write a book praising killing the descendents of white people...sonething about the children of the ones who killed Emitt Till...
      Remember that we're told that verdicts can never be wrong