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Introduction
- University Press of Mississippi
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ix Introduction Walter Mosley is a prolific and protean writer, critically acclaimed and commercially successful. Starting relatively late on a writing career has spurred Mosley’s astounding output and virtuosity in the twenty years from 1990 to 2010: thirty-three books, several screenplays, a theatrical adaptation of one of his novels, and numerous essays and stories in newspapers and magazines . While many novels are in the popular mystery and science fiction genres, he has also penned a variety of literary novels and an experimental young adult novel. In addition to fiction, he has published three nonfiction monographs raising sociopolitical questions and arguing for political engagement with domestic and international issues. Mosley’s writing in all literary modes has garnered critical praise and a number of literary prizes: the O. Henry Award for short fiction; the Edgar, Shamus, and John Creasy awards for detective fiction; and a Parallax Award for speculative fiction. He has also received awards for his literary novels. The Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s Literary Award went to RL’s Dream (1995) and the Anisfield-Wolf Award to Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned (1998) for its contribution to racial understanding. For his lifetime achievement , he received the TransAfrica International Literary Prize and the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award; the Sundance Institute honored him with its Risktaker Award for activism and creative achievement. Popular success has accompanied critical praise and literary accolades: his books have regularly appeared on best seller lists. The interviews in this collection range widely across Mosley’s oeuvre, but recurring themes provide a unifying vision of his career. The overarching theme emerging from the interviews is Mosley’s belief in the transformative power of reading and writing. His comments testify to literature as a dialogue, a process of self-discovery and self-recreation for both writer and reader. For Mosley writing is an existential activity which discovers not only characters and plots but also creates new knowledge and, with this knowledge, the power to change self and society. Viewing Mosley over time x INTRODUCTION through the interviews, one sees a growing social and political commitment to liberate people from the social and economic chains that constrain human potential. Within this overarching theme, Mosley sounds the subthemes that characterize his work. The interviews reveal the tension inherent in being perceived as a popular writer of genre fiction and Mosley’s own seriousness of purpose and experimental bent. They often focus on issues of race, community, and identity. In these conversations, one sees Mosley’s attempt to merge what W. E. B. Du Bois called the African American double consciousness . Mosley speaks of his pride in a cultural identity rooted in African American experience but also his deeply felt identity as an American, a citizen of the United States and the world. Another recurring theme related to identity and community is Mosley’s self-proclaimed discovery that his real genre is black male heroes. He describes his exploration of black male identity as a redemptive process, a literary undermining of longstanding social stereotypes in American culture. In several interviews, Mosley espouses the ancient concept that literature should be useful as well as entertaining: utile et dulce. Read chronologically the interviews reveal that Mosley’s understanding of what is entertaining remains constant—compelling plots and sympathetic characters—while he expands his understanding of what is useful. In terms of usefulness, Mosley sees literature, especially mystery fiction , as providing moral dilemmas that readers can sympathetically identify with and perhaps find comforting. Social responsibility resounds as another subtheme. After 1997, Mosley adopts a more politically active stance in his writing and in action. Initially he focused on domestic and national issues, but after September 11, 2001, the issues become global. The final subtheme in the interviews is Mosley’s sense of himself as a man of letters, a selfconscious artist, highly aware of literary technique and literary tradition. The tension between the perception of genre writers as mere entertainers and Mosley’s own serious literary aspirations becomes clear in several interviews, notably the one with Paula Woods. He defends the cultural importance and literary merit of genre fiction, in particular the hard-boiled detective novel, but he also feels compelled to rebel against any attempts at pigeonholing him exclusively as a mystery writer by critics or literary agents. His rebellions have resulted in numerous experiments in literary form. These rebellious literary forays outside the confines of mystery fiction also reveal Mosley’s virtuosity and...