Filed under: Interviews, Hot Picks, Reviews, Fiction
Award-winning novelist Pearl Cleage says she couldn't resist fictionalizing the 2008 presidential campaign season in 'Till You Hear From Me,' her latest release.
"The subject was all around me,'' she said in an email interview with BV on Books. "The 2008 campaign season was an amazing series of events that truly showcased the best and worst of country.''
The New York Times bestselling author has earned a reputation for her skillful of fictionalization of current events. She delved into the Iraq war in her last novel, 'Seen It All and Done The Rest.'
For her latest novel, she couldn't have picked a better issue than President Barack Obama, whose politics and personal beliefs command headlines. Cleage latched onto the story of the president's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who was propelled into the spotlight after a television network reviewed his fiery sermons at Trinity United Church of Christ.
The character, Rev. Horace Dunbar, is based on Rev. Wright, she said. His daughter, Ida B. Wells Dunbar, who made it the West Wing after working on the presidential campaign only to find out that was the easy part!
Cleage talks about 'Till You Hear from Me,' post-Obama America and future projects with BV on Books:BV on Books: How did you come up with the subject?
Pearl Cleage: I wanted to see if I could build a fictional story within those real events that would allow me to explore their impact within the context of one specific family. In this case, one specific father, Rev. Horace Dunbar, and his daughter, Ida. As the daughter of a very radical, charismatic minister myself, I found myself drawn to the story of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's relationship with then presidential candidate Obama, and with Rev. Wright's subsequent "fall from grace" after the now infamous video clip of him showed up on YouTube. I understand the black oratorical tradition out of which he comes and was able to view his remarks in the context of a life spent struggling against injustice, but I also understood why folks who did not understand that tradition could be shocked by his statements and frightened by his passionate delivery. I wanted to create a character with that same passionate commitment to social change -- what we used to call "a race man" -- and humanize him for my readers. The best way to do that was to place Rev. Dunbar in a specific time and place, community and family, so he becomes three dimensional and, hopefully, more understandable as a human being. I was struck several times during the campaign by the negative reactions to candidate Obama from some of the older civil rights warriors. I felt that some of this was due to the fact that while they had made it possible for him to be a serious contender, his youth and vibrancy also reminded them that they were now the "old guard," not the vibrant young Turks who had faced down and defeated the most violent forces of American racism and segregation. They didn't feel they were getting their due from those of us who owe them so much. I wanted to allow my main character, Rev. Dunbar's only daughter, to come to a deeper understanding of her father as a human being, not just a charismatic leader.
BV: What does post-Obama America mean to you?
PC: I have told friends that the hardest thing President Obama asked me to do was to think of myself as an American. On the west side of Detroit, where I grew up in a radical Black Nationalist household, we never stood up for the national anthem or recited the pledge of allegiance. Instead, we flew our own red, black and green flags, celebrated our African heritage, and dedicated ourselves to setting right all the things we knew were wrong. Loving our country, where African Americans were still denied the most basic rights of citizenship, was seen not as a source of pride, but as evidence of insanity. President Obama's election forced me to admit to, embrace, and celebrate the fact that our country has changed in so many positive ways during my lifetime. Barack Obama's election doesn't mean that we are now perfect and all problems have been solved, but it does mean that enough citizens were able to vote without regard to race to elect an amazing African American president to the highest office in the land. That is a big change and I think we are still in the midst of trying to sort out what it means to all of us. As a writer, I know that part of my task in this post-Obama America is to find the new language that we will need to express this new American reality and to tell the new stories that will reflect our common American-ness.
BV: The protagonist's name, Ida B. Wells Dunbar, is no accident. Why is the historical figure pertinent to the story?
PC: My character, Ida B. Wells Dunbar, is the daughter of a radical Black Nationalist minister and a radical feminist mother. Their two philosophies are not always complimentary, but both can enthusiastically embrace the life and work of Ida B. Wells Barnett, the African American journalist and anti-lynching activist. That's why they named their only daughter in her honor.
BV: How do you select your issues?
PC: I think my issues select me! I've always been involved in politics and community...so my stories tend to mix the political and the personal. A writer friend once told me that writers are always writing their way in or writing their way out. I think that's true. I'm always trying to find a way to understand questions and issues that are driving me crazy at the moment I sit down to write. Finding a story in which I can explore those issues is a way for me to get a handle on things and arrive at a better understanding of what's going on in my own heart and mind.
BV: What's next for Pearl Cleage?
PC: I have just finished another novel, 'Just Wanna Testify,' which will be published by Ballantine/One World in 2012. I also have a new play, The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at a Celebration of Their First One Hundred Years, premiering this fall at Alabama Shakespeare Festival in a co-production with Atlanta's Alliance Theatre. And, I'm already thinking about another novel which brings Rev. Dunbar's wife back to Atlanta to see if she can figure out the balance between the personal and the political, a challenge that continues to interest me!