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Western Book Roundup

CU Boulder Professor Helps Publish Novel by the Late Ralph Ellison

By Jenny Shank, 2-03-10

Adam Bradley, photo courtesy of AdamBradley.com.

Brittany Anas recently wrote in the Boulder Daily Camera about the role CU professor Adam Bradley has played in publishing the second posthumous novel of Ralph Ellison (via Twitter.com/Boulderbooks).  Ellison published his classic novel, Invisible Man, in 1952, and although he worked on several novels for decades, he did not publish another one before his death in 1994, but as Anas notes, he left behind “27 boxes of manuscript for his second novel that included handwritten notes, typewritten pages and 460-some computer files.”

Bradley was born and raised in Salt Lake City.  Anas writes that Bradley became interested in Ellison’s work at a young age:

“As an undergraduate at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., Bradley became intrigued with Ellison, whose father died when he was a child. A character in Invisible Man tells the protagonist: ‘Be your own father, young man.’ The rich theme of father-son relationships struck Bradley, who was raised by his white mother and met his black father for the first time in his 20s.

‘Ellison was a clarifying voice for me during that part of my life,’ Bradley said.

His professor at Lewis & Clark--John Callahan--happened to be a friend of Ellison and executor of Ellison’s estate. Callahan, impressed with Bradley, asked him to co-edit the second novel.  At age 19, Bradley began cataloging Ellison’s writings. He earned his Ph.D. in English and American literature and language from Harvard University before fully devoting himself to the project.”

Callahan put together a portion of Ellison’s notes to publish the novel Juneteenth in 1999.  Bradley and Callahan have continued working on the project, publishing Ellison’s Three days before the shooting…: The unfinished second novel last week.

Publisher’s Weekly praised the nearly 1,200-page novel in a review that reads, in part:

“With multiple versions of and fragments from the massive work (assembled by editors John F. Callahan and Adam Bradley), this edition will have the greatest appeal to Ellison enthusiasts and scholars, as well as to readers interested in the punishing process of novelistic composition. This volume contains countless passages of breathtaking prose, touching upon America and its mystic motto of national purpose violently aflutter. The story that weaves through these drafts centers on the relationship between Alonzo Hickman, a black preacher, and the race-baiting senator raised by Hickman—Adam Sunraider, of ambiguous race, living as a white man and the object of an assassination plot.”

As for Bradley, he’s traveling on the East coast over the next few weeks to discuss the novel.  He will give a reading in Boulder on CU campus on Thursday, March 11.  Last year Bradley published Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop, which his website describes as “a guided-tour of rap’s poetry, from the sing-song rhymes of the Sugar Hill Gang to the clever wordplay of Biggie and the dusted metaphors of Lil Wayne,” and in March he will publish a critical study of Ellison’s fiction, Ralph Ellison-in-Progress, with Yale University Press.

• Last week I mentioned an article by Denver writer Colleen Smith.  Smith has written another article for the Denver Post worth checking out, about the thirtieth anniversary of the scrappy Denver book review, The Bloomsbury Review.  Marilyn Auer is the editor and publisher, carrying on the legacy of the review, which was started by her brother Tom Auer and “a bunch of other people.” Tom Auer died in 2003.

Smith writes, “People from as far away as Romania and Nigeria are among the 4,000 paid subscribers to The Bloomsbury Review. Libraries, bookstores, and coffee shops throughout the U.S. and Canada distribute another 31,000 copies of the magazine.”

The Bloomsbury Review specializes in covering books overlooked by other major reviews (of which there are not many remaining).  They recently switched from bimonthly to quarterly publication due to a drop in ad sales.  Smith notes, “The Bloomsbury Review plans to celebrate its 30th anniversary all year long. A new website (bloomsburyreview .com) is in the works.” For now, readers can check out The Bloomsbury Review on Facebook.

• Copper Canyon Press of Port Townshend, Washington, is holding a fundraiser on Thursday, February 4 at Town Hall Seattle (7 p.m.). W.S. Merwin will read with four younger poets: Erin Belieu, Ben Lerner, Valzhyna Mort, and Matthew Zapruder.  Tickets are $10-$15.  Copper Canyon Press has been a non-profit publisher of poetry since 1972.

• I recently received a press release from the Montana Historical Society and the Montana State Library announcing that the website “The Montana Place Names Companion” is now up and running.  Check it out to learn about “the origin of place names for over 1,200 geographic locations in Montana” and “history and anecdotes for places throughout the state.”

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