About The Myth of Authenticity, by Percival Everett
Percival Everett is one of the most accomplished and prolific novelists of our time, often using gripping storytelling and satire to subvert stereotypes of African American representation. His 2001 novel, Erasure, adapted as the Oscar-winning American Fiction, told the story of a frustrated highbrow writer winning unexpected acclaim with a spoof account of black urban despair. And his brilliant recently published James reboots Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, from the perspective of the enslaved Jim. For the 29th Douglas W Bryant Annual Lecture, Everett takes these questions of stereotypes and authenticity, and their limits and politics, even further. He writes:
'Authenticity is a messy work. Is it used to mark the truth of something? Is it a good thing or is it neutral? Can it be a bad thing? In 1935, the black Nicolas Brothers dance team – Hayward and Harold – were considered a truly special tandem. They appeared in many films. Their routines were often set pieces, unrelated to the stories of the films, and were sometimes omitted when the movies were shown in Southern venues in the USA. Would their demonstration of elegance and class be too hard on the Southern white sensibility? A song for written for them by Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart titled, "All Dark People is Light on their Feet", offended the brothers. They asked that the title be changed to reflect proper grammar, replacing the "is" with an "are." They were denied this request, on the basis that the proper language would not be "authentically black". Who gets to decide what is authentic and why? What drives the desire to ascribe authenticity to cultural, ethnic and 'racial' categories, what does it seek to achieve and why does it fail?'
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About the speaker
Percival Everett is the author of over thirty books, including Telephone, Dr No, The Trees, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and won the 2022 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, and Erasure, which was adapted into the major Oscar-winning film American Fiction. He has received the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the PEN Center USA Award for Fiction, has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. An instant (and ongoing) New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller, Everett’s most recent novel James was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Orwell Prize for Fiction, is a Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award and winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and of the National Book Award for Fiction. James is in development as a feature film to be produced by Steven Spielberg. Percival Everett lives in Los Angeles.
Douglas W Bryant Lecture
The Douglas W Bryant Lecture is organised by the Eccles Institute for the Americas and Oceania at the British Library. Founded in 1991, the Institute builds, curates and preserves the Library's Americas and Oceania collections and champions knowledge and understanding of these regions through its wide-ranging fellowships and awards, cultural events, research training, programmes for schools and collection guides.
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Concessions
There are a range of concessions available. These include discounts for British Library Members, half-price tickets for students and under 26s, free entry for carers as well as a number of other concessions.
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