Come By Here: My Mother′s Life - Hardcover

Major, Clarence

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471415189 ISBN 13: 9780471415183

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 2002

Synopsis

Lavish praise for come by here

"With elegant simplicity and uncommon wisdom, Clarence Major gives us not just the truth of his mother′s life but the unspoken truth behind the lie of color in the American story. A compelling narrative."
–– Rilla Askew, author, Fire in Beulah

"A brilliant rendering of a rich and eventful life. With creative insight, love, and admiration, Major shows us how in family life down through the generations, race really matters."
–– Andrew Billingsley, author, Climbing Jacob′s Ladder:
The Enduring Legacy of African American Families

Critical acclaim for Clarence Major

"Clarence Major has a remarkable mind and the talent to match."
–– Toni Morrison, Nobel Laureate

"One of America′s most gifted and versatile writers."
–– Library Journal

About this title

Review:

Using his poet′s eye for detail and his novelist′s ear for speech, Major (who was shortlisted for a 1999 National Book Award for configurations) mutes his voice to create his mother′s memoir. With authentic plainness, Inez – who is "light, not white"– relates her journey to self–fulfillment through a world of demented racial complexity. "In a country where a white woman could give birth to a black child but a black woman could not give birth to a white child," Inez lives a "secret life as a white woman." Issues of race (as she deals with the employment opportunities available to her only as a white woman) and issues of gender (as Inez deals with an abusive husband) occupy, by virtue of their social significance, the core of this skillfully written book. The rich details of growing up (school, games, friends, church) and of family life (courting, marriage, babies, dying) give Majors book particular vitality. Captured through the vision of one woman, "interchangeably black or white" in a time and place where she "could not be both," Inez′s memoir moves from plantation to segregation to migration. As one generation′s smallpox becomes another′s measles, as Aunt Saffrey′s "fancy horse–drawn buggy" is outmoded by "Pa′s new Chevrolet;′ as Inez moves from tiny Dublinville to the big city of Atlanta, a whole history of African–American life unfolds. Women readers will find Inez′s resilience and perseverance inspirational. (May) Forecast: In academia, the study of" passing" (looking white without being white) is a longstanding favorite. Specialists and students in cultural studies and women′s studies will want this book. ( Publishers Weekly, May 6, 2002)

"Women readers will find Inez′s resilience and perseverance inspirational." ( Publishers Weekly, May 6, 2002)

Synopsis:

African-American writer Clarence Major explores the boundaries of identity, race, and colour in this autobiography of his mother, who passed as white without erasing her past as an African-American woman. In an exploration of family relationships, Major reveals her fears, victories, and the hidden price of her choice in a world that continued to set limits on her happiness.

About this edition

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0471415189
• ISBN 13: 9780471415183
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 270