John A. Williams: Case Twelve

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Note: Case 21 contains audio and video clips.

Case Twelve

CHESTER HIMES

One day as we were strolling through the Village on one of his many trips to New York, I said to Chester, "I've got a great title for a story I'm working on." He asked what it was and I said, "Navy Black and Blue." He thought about it for a minute or so, then said, "Why not just 'Navy Black'?" I used his title.

HIMES, Chester. Typed letter signed, to Williams. 3 December 1962.

"CHESTER HIMES IS GETTING ON," clipped from Book Week. Vol. 2, No. 5 (11 October 1964).

HIMES, Chester. Typed letter, signed, to Williams. 22 July 1969.

Original photograph of Chester Himes with his cat, Deros. Taken by Williams at the Hotel Albert in New York. Summer 1968.

HIMES, Chester. Typed letter signed, to Williams. 13 June 1969.

Himes was a prolific correspondent, and our friendship lasted, with highs and lows, about fifteen years. After he published volume two of his autobiography, My Life of Absurdity in 1976, in which he accused me of the theft of some of his money and of his rights to an essay of his I included in Beyond the Angry Black ("The Dilemma of the Negro Novelist"), our relationship ended. I thought to sue Himes and his publisher for libel, but mutual friends suggested otherwise; they believed I should take into account Himes's illness, which I did, and thus the letter I wrote, directed to his editor, was never sent.

Chester Himes. Alicante, Spain. June 1969.

HIMES, Chester. The Quality of Hurt: The Autobiography of Chester Himes. Vol. 1. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday (1972). First edition, inscribed to Williams.

HIMES, Chester. Carbon typescript, The Quality of Hurt: Book 1 (1972).

Chester Himes and John A. Williams at the Black Academy of Arts and Letters induction, September 20, 1970.

HIMES, Chester. Typed letter, signed. 30 May 1972.

scanned title page for the third generation

HIMES, Chester. The Third Generation. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press (1989). Foreword by Williams.

Original photograph of Himes and Williams. Taken by Lori Williams in New York. 1968.

WILLIAMS, Lori and John A. DEAR CHESTER, DEAR JOHN. (A work in progress.)