by Caryl Phillips - £8.99 Vintage (2006)
paperback
ISBN 13: 9780099488873 | ISBN 10: 0099488876
'The funniest man I ever saw, and the saddest man I ever knew.' This is how W.C. Fields described Bert Williams, the highest-paid entertainer in America in his heyday and someone who counted the King of England and Buster Keaton among his fans.
Born in the Bahamas, he moved to California with his family. Too poor to attend Stanford University, he took to life on the stage with his friend George Walker. Together they played lumber camps and mining towns until they eventually made the agonising decision to 'play the coon'.
Off-stage, Williams was a tall, light-skinned man with marked poise and dignity; on-stage he now became a shuffling, inept 'nigger' who wore blackface makeup But the mask was beginning to overwhelm Williams and he sank into bouts of melancholia and heavy drinking, unable to escape the blackface his public demanded.
"Phillips has brilliantly resurrected a bitter-sweet life... Without a doubt Phillips' most accomplished novel."
(Time Out)
(Price & availability last checked: May 2018)
In booklists: Fiction - Black British Writers, Writers by Surname - P,
In categories: Fiction, Black, Asian & Other Diasporas,
© News From Nowhere Co-operative Ltd IP24524R 2004-2024 | Privacy policy | Contact | return to top of page