Illuminating Fiction

Chris Abani: Coming to Elvis

160 Chris Abani Coming to Elvis When Chris Abani’s 2004 novel GraceLand begins, the protagonist, Elvis Oke, is trying to earn a living on a beach in Lagos, Nigeria. He puts on a wig, a thick layer of talcum powder, and does impersonations of Elvis Presley. However, unlike his hero, he is impoverished and lives in a slum, a world without opportunity, where he is introduced to a world of vicious crime. Towards the end of GraceLand, Elvis Oke is in prison, hanging by his wrists from metal bars in a cell. Justice doesn’t seem to exist. Abani’s personal history is reflected in these painful scenes. Author Percival Everett said of GraceLand, “To say that this is a Nigerian or African novel is to miss the point. This absolutely beautiful work of fiction is about complex and strained political structures, the irony of the West being a measure of civilization, and the tricky business of being a son. Abani’s language is beautiful and his story is important.” Anderson Tepper, in his Village Voice review describes GraceLand as an “irresistible, kaleidoscopic novel, the shantytowns around Lagos are full of wonders—and festering dangers.” GraceLand was named one of the 2004 best books of the year by the Los Angeles Times, was included on the New York Times Vacation Reading List in June 2004 and was a Today Show Pick in January 2005. Chris Abani wrote his first novel, Masters of the Board, when he was sixteen years old and a resident of Nigeria.Two years later, in 1985, he was arrested and imprisoned for six months; the Nigerian government believed that Masters of the Board served as a blueprint for a failed coup. In 1987, Abani was arrested a second time and incarcerated for a year at a Kiri Kiri, a maximum security prison, for his performance in plays that were critical of the leadership of his country, as well as for a second novel that was never published. In 1990, he was incarcerated under treason charges after a play he authored, Song of a Broken Flute, was performed at his school, Imo State University. Abanihaswrittenfourcollectionsofpoetry:DogWoman,KalakutaRepublic, Daphne’s Lot, and Hands Washing Water. His essays and shorter fiction have been widely published in journals and anthologies. A man of multiple talents, Abani also plays the saxophone, primarily to accompany his readings. Chris Abani 161 Abani’s 2006 novella Becoming Abigail was a New York Times Editor’s Choice, a Chicago Reader Critic’s Choice, a selection of the Essence Magazine Book Club and a selection of the Black Expressions Book Club. In January 2007, his second novel, The Virgin of Flames was published; the New Yorker likened Abani to Pirandello. A new novella, Song For Night, will be published in August 2007. Abani has taught literature and creative writing at the University of Southern California. He has received many awards, including the Lannan Literary Fellowship in Poetry and the PEN USA West Freedom-to-Write Award. I spoke with him by phone after the publication of GraceLand. Sherry Ellis: There is an early passage in GraceLand when Elvis, the protagonist , goes into his bedroom and puts on the song “Heartbreak Hotel.” He then takes out a makeup kit and transforms himself from black skin to white. You write, “He walked back to the table and pulled the wig on, bending to look in the mirror. Elvis has entered the building, he thought, as he admired himself.” Can you speak about Elvis’s hopes? Chris Abani: Elvis’s hope is to find a way out of his situation, which is one of poverty, one of brutality, in terms of the family and in terms of the state; and to be able to transmute it all into something beautiful; to realize his dreams; to make his art, in this case art as a dancer, as an Elvis impersonator. But we realize the parallel of the real Elvis’s attempt to make something in America, the making of Graceland, which becomes an exaggerated Xanadu as it were. It becomes a parallel of the character Elvis’s attempt to find redemption , to make a Graceland of his own, a place where all his hopes can come together. Ellis: Throughout GraceLand, Elvis reckons with the forces of good and evil. During the 1970s when he was living in Afikpo, his mother and grandmother imparted to him a strong sense of family values, whereas the more recent influences in his life...