Three Answer: Randall Kenan
by Dick Donahue -- Publishers Weekly, 7/9/2007 8:18:00 AM
Three Answers today are from Randall Kenan, whose The Fire This Time will be published on August 2 by Melville House.
PW: Why did you decide to write this homage to James Baldwin?
RK: I’ve always had an abiding interest in Baldwin’s work and life—in fact, I did a young adult biography of him in the early ’90s—so when I discussed this project with the editors at Melville House, it became more and more interesting to delve into some of the same questions he asked in 1963 in The Fire Next Time.
PW: Publisher Dennis Johnson at Melville House referred to you as a “descendant” of James Baldwin. Do you see yourself in that role?
RK: That’s certainly a flattering way to put it—and a challenge, as well. I think that Baldwin accomplished so much at a time when only a handful of black writers were published by major houses—that was astonishing. And the content, even more than the outward accomplishment, is a challenge. I find in him not only an inspiration but a role model—to carry on the moral aspect of both art and politics, and to follow your own aesthetic muses.
PW: What would you like readers to take away from this book?
RK: I think the basic challenge and call I make is for more discussion. You might think, or it might appear on the surface, that we’re talking about racial issues a lot, but in truth we aren’t. There’s a lot of yelling and screaming, but not genuine dialogue; people need to get to know each other. I think that will lead to more substantive changes, and more substantive observations, and more serious questions being asked by people who right now aren’t really paying attention.
