Conversations with Walter Mosley

by Owen E. Brady (Editor)

Overview

The interviews in this collection cover Walter Mosley's career and reveal an overarching theme: a belief in the transformative power of reading and writing. Since the 1990 publication of his first novel, Devil in a Blue Dress, Mosley (b. 1952) has published over thirty books in a tremendous range of genres and modes: crime and detective fiction, science fiction, literary novels of ideas, character studies, political and social nonfiction, erotica, and memoir. Best known for his Easy Rawlins detective series and Socrates Fortlow series of crime novels, Mosley has created a body of work that as a whole chronicles and examines twentieth-century African American experience.

Conversations with Walter Mosley covers the breadth of Mosley's career and reveals a craftsman and wryly witty conversationalist. Conscious of his forebears as well as literary techniques, he discusses favorites and influences including Camus, Shakespeare, and Dickens as well as writers in popular genres, especially speculative fiction and the hard-boiled noir detective tradition. He also discusses how his work modifies the crime tradition to engage it with black experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781604739435
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	02/14/2011
Series:	Literary Conversations Series
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Owen E. Brady is associate professor of humanities and coordinator of the American studies program at Clarkson University. He is coeditor of Finding a Way Home: A Critical Assessment of Walter Mosley's Fiction, published by University Press of Mississippi. His work has also appeared in Callaloo, Obsidian: Black Literature in Review, and many other periodical

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Chronology xxi

Walter Mosley Thulani Davis 3

The Other Side of Those Mean Streets Charles L. P. Silet 16

Walter Mosley's Secret Stories: A Ride with a Mystery Writer Who Evokes the Unclichéd Lynell George 29

The Monday Interview: Walter Mosley Esther Oxford 42

Walter Mosley Writers Institute Seminar and Evening Reading Donald Faulkner 47

Walter Mosley, 1998 William Mills 66

Interview with Walter Mosley January 1999 Samuel Coale 75

On the Chain Gang Elizabeth Farnsworth 86

Eavesdropping with Walter Mosley and Colson Whitehead Colson Whitehead Walter Mosley 91

BookMuse Interview with Walter Mosley Gail David-Tellis 99

Walter Mosley Talks Technology, Race, and His Return Trip into Future-land Hugo Perez 107

Walter Mosley: A Seat at the Table Charles N. Brown 112

Taking a Stand with Walter Mosley Libero Della Piana 122

Walter Mosley: Fearless and Easy Craig McDonald 127

Interview with Walter Mosley Paula L. Woods 136

Walter Mosley, Uneasy Street Christopher P. Farley 156

Walter Mosley Interview Connie Martinson 165

Walter Mosley's Search for Context Maria Luisa Tucker 173

A Conversation with Walter Mosley John Orr 177

Hardboiled to Hardcore: Interview with Walter Mosley D. Scot Miller 187

Walter Mosley Tavis Smiley 192

Interview: Walter Mosley Marcus Gilmer 198

PIP-The Fall of Heaven-Walter Mosley Rick Pender 203

Index 209