I'm a very critical movie-goer, but I was hugely impressed by the movie "American Fiction," so was curious about this interview with the author of the original novel. I'm planning to read his new alternative viewpoint re-telling of Huckleberry Finn, although that's normally not my kind of book.
Percival Everett Can’t Say What His Novels Mean
The author of “Erasure” is renowned for his satires of genre, identity, and America. But his great target may be language itself.
In 1992, Everett bought a ranch in the Banning Pass, between Los Angeles and Palm Springs, where he grew more than a hundred varieties of roses and tended to horses, donkeys, and mules. Neighbors were always bringing injured animals to his doorstep. By Maya BinyamOne day, he found a baby crow that had fallen out of a tree. Everett cared for the crow until it was strong enough to fly, but the crow would simply fly in a loop, land beside him, and start to walk. When Everett tried to drive to town, the crow followed his truck, flying in tandem with his moving face. Everett built a perch out of PVC and stuck it in the cab so that they could travel around together. “I kept trying to get him to go out and have crow sex,” Everett told me. “I said, ‘Listen, you’re not going to get much satisfaction here.’ ” At the time, Everett was working on “Erasure,” and the crow would shuffle down his arm and peck at the keys.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...verett-profile