Percival Everett proved to be a highlight of the 2024 Living Writers series when he gave the first-ever public reading of his new novel, James, in Love Auditorium on Thursday, Sept. 21 — an unofficial opening to Colgate University’s Homecoming weekend.
Everett is a distinguished professor at the University of Southern California and a prolific writer with a background in biochemistry, mathematical logic, jazz music, painting — and cowboying.
Longlisted for the National Book Award and shortlisted for the Booker Award, James is a reimagining of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, told from the perspective of Huck’s sidekick, the escaped slave Jim. The novel is necessarily violent at times and comedic at others. The narrative shifts attention toward the empowerment and disempowerment of enslaved people and dismantles the stereotypes of the source material.
In writing the character of James, Everett said he “wasn’t giving him agency. I was giving him an avenue to express his agency.”
James is so clever that he not only teaches himself and all of the children to read and write but also to code-switch. The enslaved people of James are bilingual; they speak both intelligently and performatively, mastering stupidity for their white audience. In his dreams, James has constructive conversations with Voltaire on slavery and progress. With Huck, James’ speech is frequently monosyllabic and always phony. James is a novel about passing, survival, and true intellectual freedom.
Everett recently finished writing the script for the film adaptation of James. Universal Pictures, Stephen Spielberg, and Taika Waititi are all involved with the project. Previously, Everett’s novel Erasure was adapted into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction.
Besides Erasure and James, Everett has written more than 30 books.
“I think I know something when I start a book, and by the time I finish, I realize I didn’t know anything. That’s the experience I love,” Everett says. “After 30 books, I know less than most people.”
Everett also engaged with students in the Living Writers program during a Q&A session. He shared intimate insights regarding the importance of reading and writing, which are especially relevant in the context of James.
“Reading really is subversive because no one can see what is going into you,” Everett says. “They can look over your shoulder and see all the words you see, but they will never know what they mean to you.”
And he includes himself in that equation.
“The work is on its own,” Everett says. “What I think it means doesn’t matter. I can put the material in front of you but you are making the meaning.”
Visit colgate.edu/livingwriters to find out more about this year’s authors and to see a full schedule of upcoming events.