Americus: A Novel - Softcover
What happens to fraternal love when identical twins stop being identical? To romantic love when indiscretions done in the dark have
a secret witness? What happens to a family when the love that binds also strangles? Inspired by Egyptian mythology and young America’s coming-of-age story, AMERICUS follows the lives of rambunctious identical twins Asar and Set Americus. After Set contracts vitiligo (a
skin disease that fades body pigmentation in patches), he goes from family favorite to stare-provoking freak at 10-years-old. When Set’s
super-capable mother can’t keep her promise to cure him, Set blames her, but not more than she blames herself.
“... in an era of white mob violence that crested and broke in the early decades of the twentieth century, Michael Datcher weaves a narrative of three generations of sons trying to cultivate and maintain their manhood against relentless forces. Simultaneously a mythic novel and a historical one, AMERICUS is a story of the monsters that emerge from the monstrosities of American history. With this novel, Datcher joins August Wilson and Toni Morrison as an American storyteller.”
--P. Gabrielle Foreman
Ned B. Allen Professor of English & Black Studies,
The University of Delaware
a secret witness? What happens to a family when the love that binds also strangles? Inspired by Egyptian mythology and young America’s coming-of-age story, AMERICUS follows the lives of rambunctious identical twins Asar and Set Americus. After Set contracts vitiligo (a
skin disease that fades body pigmentation in patches), he goes from family favorite to stare-provoking freak at 10-years-old. When Set’s
super-capable mother can’t keep her promise to cure him, Set blames her, but not more than she blames herself.
“... in an era of white mob violence that crested and broke in the early decades of the twentieth century, Michael Datcher weaves a narrative of three generations of sons trying to cultivate and maintain their manhood against relentless forces. Simultaneously a mythic novel and a historical one, AMERICUS is a story of the monsters that emerge from the monstrosities of American history. With this novel, Datcher joins August Wilson and Toni Morrison as an American storyteller.”
--P. Gabrielle Foreman
Ned B. Allen Professor of English & Black Studies,
The University of Delaware
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About the Author:
Dr. Michael Datcher did his undergraduate work at UC Berkeley, his Masters at UCLA and his Ph.D at the UC Riverside in English Literature. He is the author the East St. Louis historical novel AMERICUS (Third World Press) and the critically-acclaimed New York Times Bestseller RAISING FENCES (Penguin Putnam/Riverhead)―a TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB Book of the Month pick. The film rights were originally optioned by actor Will Smith’s Overbrook Productions, who hired Datcher to write the screenplay. Datcher is also the author of the forthcoming book of literary theory ANIMATING BLACK AND BROWN LIBERATION: A Theory of American Literatures (State University of New York Press, April 2019). He is co-editor of TOUGH LOVE: The Life and Death of Tupac Shakur. Datcher’s play SILENCE was commissioned by and premiered at the Getty Museum. He is co-host of the weekly public affairs news magazine BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE on 90.7 FM KPFK in Los Angeles. His writing is widely anthologized, including appearances in the volumes What Makes A Man (Penguin), Brown Sugar 3(Simon Schuster), Soulfires (Penguin), Testimony (Beacon Press), Another City (City Lights), and Body and Soul (Crown), among others. He has curated and/or presented his work at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, The Hammer Museum and other art institutions. Datcher is the former Executive Director of The World Stage, a literary and jazz education and performance nonprofit in Los Angeles’ Crenshaw District. He is Editor of THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FACT: International Journal of Literary Nonfiction. Datcher is an assistant professor of English at Loyola Marymount University.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherThird World Press
- Publication date2018
- ISBN 10 088378405X
- ISBN 13 9780883784051
- BindingPerfect Paperback
- Number of pages320
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Third World Press
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ISBN 10: 088378405X
ISBN 13: 9780883784051
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