Top 10 list for Colson Whitehead’s The Intuitionist

[By Howard Rambsy II]

Every year that I've assigned Colson Whitehead’s The Intuitionist, folks in the classes who have some initial difficulties with the book want to know what made me choose it. For some reason, I typically stumble through answers. Over the years, I’ve developed a list to that addresses their questions. I think. Perhaps. Maybe.

The Coverage of.... Zone One By Colson Whitehead

[Compiled by Howard Rambsy II]

Here’s a sketch of the coverage of Zone One by Colson Whitehead. The pre-publication attention that the work has received has been remarkable.

Colson Whitehead & the Upper Floors

[By Howard Rambsy II]

“Literary reputations may not always rise and fall as predictably as elevators,” noted Gary Krist toward the end of a February 7, 1999 review of The Intuitionist. “But if there's any justice in the world of fiction, Colson Whitehead's should be heading toward the upper floors.”

Perhaps there’s some justice, because Whitehead has risen to those upper floors. It’s necessary of course to qualify with “some” justice, because for every novelist that has ascended those upper floors, many stayed put on the ground levels or mid-levels despite their talents. A large number of novelists—African American and otherwise—could attest to how unjust the world of fiction can be.

Colson Whitehead, Zone One, and Publishing History

[By Howard Rambsy II]

Next Tuesday, October 18, will mark the release of Colson Whitehead’s novel Zone One. His previous four novels and one work of creative non-fiction, The Colossus of New York have helped make him one of our leading literary figures. Whitehead has distinguished himself as a really inventive writer, and with this upcoming “zombie” novel, he seems to further stretch the boundaries of the kinds of topics that a prominent African American novelist might address.

As far as novels by African American writers go, Zone One has received an extraordinary amount of pre-publication buzz. Harper’s, GQ, Esquire, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue, and Publishers Weekly are some of the publications that have already provided coverage and thus publicity for Whitehead’s book.