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Trick Baby
Trick Baby charts the rise of White Folks, a white Negro who uses his colour as a trump card in the tough game of the Con. Blue-eyed, light-haired, and white-skinned, White Folks is the most incredible con man the ghetto ever spawned, a hustler in the jungle of Southside Chicago where only the sharpest survive. With his partner Blue, an old hand who teaches him the tricks of the trade, White Folks rises to the top of his profession. The cons he pulls off get more and more lucrative and dangerous until one day they go too far....
284 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1969
129 people are currently reading
2433 people want to read
About the author
Iceberg Slim
25 books509 followersIceberg Slim, also known as Robert Beck, was born as Robert Lee Maupin. Novelist and poet whose most famous novel, Pimp, is semi-autobiographical.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
December 3, 2009
This is one of my favorite books. I fell in love with the main character Johnny O' brien and even tried to look him up to see if he was still alive! The story is about a mixed man who is so light he could pass for white. They referred to him as an Errol Flynn look alike in the book. If you google him you'll know the main character was FIONE! It tells of Johnny's black mother who was color struck and did not like black men. She married Johnny's father, an irish man, while he was drunk who soon left them after getting pressure from his family. Johnny's mother goes on to raise him by herself. After a tragic event, Johnny is left alone and taken up by his mentor/father figure (I forget his name but I think it's Blue). Blue teaches him how to con people out of money and pretty soon they're making big money together. Johnny is so loveable and his story telling is so raw. I initially rented it from the library but I've since bought it because I know I'll be reading it again!
February 27, 2021
Fantastic. I was really surprised how well this book stands up to Wright’s Black Boy of even Ellison’s Invisible Man in terms of its treatment of race. Okay, maybe that’s overkill, a pimp’s exaggeration. But this book is extremely clever, and equally funny and tragic. I am embarrassed that I’ve lived on the South Side of Chicago for so long without knowing more about this talented author. But that’s part of America’s race problem. You can live and die on the segregated South Side and never realize you’re living blocks away from Emmett Till’s dilapidated home. And who in Woodlawn has any idea where Lorraine Hansberry used to live?
December 24, 2015
Painful chronicle of the black male underclass of the USA in the 1940s. Written in the 60s by Robert Beck who lived a similar life of crime in the same era and later went straight and became a writer. The “Trick Baby” of the title is the very pale skinned son of a black woman who gets whacked by racism from both sides – and sometimes shares the insider talk on both sides of the race line.
What I liked about it was its no-holds-barred directness about how a life of crime can get chosen without evil intention, and how powerful and ubiquitous racism is in cutting off black people’s choices.
What I didn’t like was the uncritical way the story slings around male sexism that is really on a par with racism in its brutal and unconscious judgement and treatment of those outside the relatively privileged group.
What I liked about it was its no-holds-barred directness about how a life of crime can get chosen without evil intention, and how powerful and ubiquitous racism is in cutting off black people’s choices.
What I didn’t like was the uncritical way the story slings around male sexism that is really on a par with racism in its brutal and unconscious judgement and treatment of those outside the relatively privileged group.
July 5, 2012
I read this book after becoming a fan of Robert Beck. Anyone who considers themselves 'street smart' should read this book. Maybe 'squares' should read it too because it reveals things about life that everyone should be aware of!
February 25, 2024
If I were asked to summarize the topics of Trick Baby, it's 1/3 sex, 1/3 thinking about sex and 1/3 hustling. Trick Baby is a novel about a mixed-race man who goes by the name of White Folks and can pass for white, but lives in the black world. The title is a name given to some light-skinned children of black prostitutes, assuming that their father was a white trick. White Folks is born in the 1920's in Kansas City, but moves to the south side of Chicago. There he meets Blue, an older black man who takes him under his wing and teaches him the con game, because having a "white" partner can be very advantageous for his ruses. The writing can be beautifully descriptive and highly evocative, and overall the novel is hyper-realistic in its depiction of racism, crime, alcoholism, drug use and prostitution.
The story opens with Blue and White Folks scared out of their minds, as they are hiding out from those that would kill them after a fake diamond sale. We are then taken back to White Folks' childhood, and gradually through the rest of his life before and after meeting Blue up until the climax with them running for their lives. Chapter 4, in which Blue narrates their back story to White Folks for the benefit of the reader, is written in an unnecessary and awkward way.
The colorful street lingo made me laugh like hell. Of course Iceberg Slim, real name Robert Beck, lived much of this life, and I imagine the popularity of his works in the days before there were many successful African-American novelists was largely due to his realistic depiction of Black American life. If you're a fan of blues music, you'll hear Blue recite a line from Sonny Boy Williamson, "I ain't fattening no more frogs for snakes".
The story opens with Blue and White Folks scared out of their minds, as they are hiding out from those that would kill them after a fake diamond sale. We are then taken back to White Folks' childhood, and gradually through the rest of his life before and after meeting Blue up until the climax with them running for their lives. Chapter 4, in which Blue narrates their back story to White Folks for the benefit of the reader, is written in an unnecessary and awkward way.
The colorful street lingo made me laugh like hell. Of course Iceberg Slim, real name Robert Beck, lived much of this life, and I imagine the popularity of his works in the days before there were many successful African-American novelists was largely due to his realistic depiction of Black American life. If you're a fan of blues music, you'll hear Blue recite a line from Sonny Boy Williamson, "I ain't fattening no more frogs for snakes".
June 28, 2020
My main and only frustration about ICEBERG SLIM is the lack of recognition of his writing work! It is the third book I have read from him, to me, Pimp, Black mama widow and Trick baby are pure classical books! Nobody write like him, through his writing, I laughed, learnt, cried too many emotions over all this pages.
That man is genius , that really pisses me off to know he didn't get the right recognition he deserved, those books are diamond.
The environment is dark, poor, the total opposite of a Disney movie but the author put a light, a stinky and tough light on a painful reality, just as it is, to pu the reader into the life of the "don't wanna see" people, you can sit next to them, walk next to them but defintely you don't know what brought them into that kind of life. As Tupac said "I didn't choose Thug life, the thug life choose me", it is so true by reading Iceberg's books.
Trick baby, Johnny O'brien is really a touching character , be Black is tough but when you are white from the outside but mixed from the inside among black people, it is another story. The beautiful friendship, more a father and son between Johnny and Blue Howard was well described fed zith emotion. Blue is the sun, the guide in Johnny's life, and the way the author put that in the book, made me cried at the very end.
Iceberg Slim through his beautiful books, is just putting a highlight to person that deserved to be known (I am wondering if he did not used aliases I tried to find out Johnny to see if he was so handsome, the same for Otis in Black mama widow :( ) , in our times where everybody can be famous without talent, Iceberg give a book to people with a talent, suriving in a painful world, a fight to live by telling their stories, and by telling they are just human beings behind their shocking jobs.
Iceberg SLIM you deserve to be part of the Classical books, you deserve to get that recognition litterature world owe you, you deserved a better end, not that one torturing your mind about financial issues you shouldn't have to worry cause your books are masterpieces for reader, that worth more than life can value.
I wish I could talk to you and most of all THANK YOU.
That man is genius , that really pisses me off to know he didn't get the right recognition he deserved, those books are diamond.
The environment is dark, poor, the total opposite of a Disney movie but the author put a light, a stinky and tough light on a painful reality, just as it is, to pu the reader into the life of the "don't wanna see" people, you can sit next to them, walk next to them but defintely you don't know what brought them into that kind of life. As Tupac said "I didn't choose Thug life, the thug life choose me", it is so true by reading Iceberg's books.
Trick baby, Johnny O'brien is really a touching character , be Black is tough but when you are white from the outside but mixed from the inside among black people, it is another story. The beautiful friendship, more a father and son between Johnny and Blue Howard was well described fed zith emotion. Blue is the sun, the guide in Johnny's life, and the way the author put that in the book, made me cried at the very end.
Iceberg Slim through his beautiful books, is just putting a highlight to person that deserved to be known (I am wondering if he did not used aliases I tried to find out Johnny to see if he was so handsome, the same for Otis in Black mama widow :( ) , in our times where everybody can be famous without talent, Iceberg give a book to people with a talent, suriving in a painful world, a fight to live by telling their stories, and by telling they are just human beings behind their shocking jobs.
Iceberg SLIM you deserve to be part of the Classical books, you deserve to get that recognition litterature world owe you, you deserved a better end, not that one torturing your mind about financial issues you shouldn't have to worry cause your books are masterpieces for reader, that worth more than life can value.
I wish I could talk to you and most of all THANK YOU.
November 27, 2016
....I read this many years ago...It was given to me during a very cold winter, by a security guard at my college with whom I'd struck up a friendship...Very exciting, street-wise novel- and I don't remember much else about it- except one thing that I learned from the main character, that I've put to use many times since with great effect... Might be time to revisit more of this author's work.
July 24, 2022
Life lessons to be learned from this poetically written page turner.
May 23, 2021
Robert Muppins Jr., a quien la calle rebautizaría como Iceberg Slim, fue proxeneta durante casi venticinco años, hasta que con 42 acabó dando con los huesos en la cárcel. Tras estar en aislamiento durante 10 meses, decidió dejar el oficio. No podía competir con proxenetas más jóvenes y chungos. Se mudó a L.A. y conoció a la que se convirtió en su mujer y quien le animó a escribir Pimp.
A partir de ahí Iceberg Slim dejó escritas 8 novelas más, además de una autobiografía. Confío en que, antes o después, alguna editorial molona se anime a traducir y publicar el resto de la obra de este autor que tanto hizo por acercar la cultura al ghetto.
Si Pimp va de putas, Trick Baby va de timadores. En esta ocasión la mayor parte de la narración corre a cargo de Compadre Blanco, compañero de celda de Iceberg Slim y timador profesional, el cual relata lo que ha sido su vida junto a Blue, maestro y compañero de oficio, hasta acabar en el trullo con el protagonista de Pimp.
El apodo «Compadre Blanco» le viene por el color se su piel, es un mestizo de piel blanca y ojos claros. Siendo muy joven, conoce a Blue, que le saca unos veinte años y será su gurú del timo. El veterano, a diferencia de la mayoría de la gente, encuentra en el color de piel de Compadre Blanco una ventaja: esa piel le permitirá acercarse a blancos adinerados para engatusarlos sin despertar desconfianza. Es un filón para conseguir un montón de «primos con pasta».
A partir de entonces, Blue decide ocuparse de Compadre Blanco, y será a "White Folks" lo que Mel es a Bobbie (Un día más en el paraíso): su «consorte» (compañero de timo).
Si te mola el realismo sucio y/o las historias tipo blaxplotation, este te gustará: literatura guapa procedente del ghetto, directa al sillón de tu queo.
«La dorada primavera brotó con sus perennes promesas de belleza y amor para los bobos. Para mí, sin embargo, trajo la excitante un promesa del timo».
Reseña completa en https://denmeunpapelillo.net/trick-ba...
A partir de ahí Iceberg Slim dejó escritas 8 novelas más, además de una autobiografía. Confío en que, antes o después, alguna editorial molona se anime a traducir y publicar el resto de la obra de este autor que tanto hizo por acercar la cultura al ghetto.
Si Pimp va de putas, Trick Baby va de timadores. En esta ocasión la mayor parte de la narración corre a cargo de Compadre Blanco, compañero de celda de Iceberg Slim y timador profesional, el cual relata lo que ha sido su vida junto a Blue, maestro y compañero de oficio, hasta acabar en el trullo con el protagonista de Pimp.
El apodo «Compadre Blanco» le viene por el color se su piel, es un mestizo de piel blanca y ojos claros. Siendo muy joven, conoce a Blue, que le saca unos veinte años y será su gurú del timo. El veterano, a diferencia de la mayoría de la gente, encuentra en el color de piel de Compadre Blanco una ventaja: esa piel le permitirá acercarse a blancos adinerados para engatusarlos sin despertar desconfianza. Es un filón para conseguir un montón de «primos con pasta».
A partir de entonces, Blue decide ocuparse de Compadre Blanco, y será a "White Folks" lo que Mel es a Bobbie (Un día más en el paraíso): su «consorte» (compañero de timo).
Si te mola el realismo sucio y/o las historias tipo blaxplotation, este te gustará: literatura guapa procedente del ghetto, directa al sillón de tu queo.
«La dorada primavera brotó con sus perennes promesas de belleza y amor para los bobos. Para mí, sin embargo, trajo la excitante un promesa del timo».
Reseña completa en https://denmeunpapelillo.net/trick-ba...
December 7, 2012
I personally think that this book was the best of all of Iceberg Slim's books.
Slim tells the story of a young man known as White Folks but who was referred to as Trick Baby. Born to an interracial couple in the ghetto, White Folks is bi-racial but appears to be Caucasian. After the marriage falls apart and his father leaves them, people assume that his mother was a prostitute and that his birth was the result of a "trick" (or sex with a john for those unaware of urban slang.) After White Folks' mother's descent into mental illness, he falls into a life of crime. He does make some attempts at reformation but those quickly fall to the wayside.
Slim does a great job of taking you from the cradle to White Folks' adulthood. I'm not sure if this is a real person's story or if it was a character that Slim created, but it really feels authentic.
One of the best urban lit books I've ever read.
Slim tells the story of a young man known as White Folks but who was referred to as Trick Baby. Born to an interracial couple in the ghetto, White Folks is bi-racial but appears to be Caucasian. After the marriage falls apart and his father leaves them, people assume that his mother was a prostitute and that his birth was the result of a "trick" (or sex with a john for those unaware of urban slang.) After White Folks' mother's descent into mental illness, he falls into a life of crime. He does make some attempts at reformation but those quickly fall to the wayside.
Slim does a great job of taking you from the cradle to White Folks' adulthood. I'm not sure if this is a real person's story or if it was a character that Slim created, but it really feels authentic.
One of the best urban lit books I've ever read.
May 1, 2022
Trick Baby is an amazing novel. Iceberg Slim is a wizard with the pen. I've read many of his books, of course including 2 of the greats, Pimp, Mama Black Widow, but I definitely underestimated Trick Baby by pushing it off. Now after reading it; it has become my favorite novel by Iceberg Slim. I would recommend this title, not just for fans of Iceberg Slim, or of the Urban Literature genre, but to any reader of good books.
January 3, 2008
This book is about a bi racial man who appears to be white, being raised by his black mother in a black community that both ridicules him for supposedly being the product of prostitution and reveres him for being able to cross the color line and live a life not held back by the mere fact that one is black skinned
May 23, 2020
Imma give it 5 cause it was entertaining. I hate all the pauses it denied me a fast read, but everything was like. White folks is a white nigger that plays the con with mastery but hoes Con the niggers out.
Watch-out for them hoes playing the Con to you.
Watch-out for them hoes playing the Con to you.
March 18, 2011
Ice Berg Slim is a true master of the word. His dialogue is dazzling. His cast so real you can almost touch them. "Pimp" is the book to start with, but Trick Baby is just as good and stands alone as a brilliant example of American writing.
Trick Baby is a term used for the offspring of a black prostitute who has given birth to a baby who is half white. The baby of a white John (client of the prostitute) is considered a trick baby. Half black. Half white.
After his mother is gang raped and put into a secure mental hospital, White Folks (trick baby) falls into the company of Blue, a grifter con-man who teaches Folks the art of Con. How to hustle for money in downtown Chicago. Folks has an advantage as he looks like a peckerwood (white man) Blue and Folks play the con and earn lots of money on the grifter circuit.
They play to close to danger and the con catches up with them.
Quote from Trick Baby. Folks and Blue talk about religion.
Blue: "My conviction is that God never existed. I believe the Bible was written by the slickest bunch of peckerwood grifters that ever crapped between two sandals" .... Brilliant!
Read this book.
Trick Baby is a term used for the offspring of a black prostitute who has given birth to a baby who is half white. The baby of a white John (client of the prostitute) is considered a trick baby. Half black. Half white.
After his mother is gang raped and put into a secure mental hospital, White Folks (trick baby) falls into the company of Blue, a grifter con-man who teaches Folks the art of Con. How to hustle for money in downtown Chicago. Folks has an advantage as he looks like a peckerwood (white man) Blue and Folks play the con and earn lots of money on the grifter circuit.
They play to close to danger and the con catches up with them.
Quote from Trick Baby. Folks and Blue talk about religion.
Blue: "My conviction is that God never existed. I believe the Bible was written by the slickest bunch of peckerwood grifters that ever crapped between two sandals" .... Brilliant!
Read this book.
August 5, 2020
I couldn’t put this book down. An unforgettable story with unforgettable characters. I’m late to Iceberg Slim, and this is the first of his works I’ve read, but the plot, the drama, the voices are well worth it. This is real story-telling! Highly recommend!
September 29, 2009
mindblowing and crazy like memphis in the middle of the summer. just crunk for no reason!
Read
February 5, 2016Not as Good as Pimp but just as interesting!
Great story, it starts off a little slow and lags in some portions but I enjoyed the read and there is one chapter called "Haters" that is simply powerful. This book is good because it situates the story within a racial and economic context and per usual Slim's analysis of human behavior is refreshingly spot on and raw. I recommend it!
Great story, it starts off a little slow and lags in some portions but I enjoyed the read and there is one chapter called "Haters" that is simply powerful. This book is good because it situates the story within a racial and economic context and per usual Slim's analysis of human behavior is refreshingly spot on and raw. I recommend it!
February 27, 2021
This book was so explosive!!! The characters got on my nerves especially w| all the greed . From the jump I didn’t like Blue he was just too sprung and brutal towards women he just surrounded himself by people who he could manipulate even a young boy like John . White folks had it so hard growing up I cried ..... his character gained my sympathy.....
January 31, 2016
Surprisingly poetic collection of con-man heists / Odyssey-like tragic hero epic set in 1940's Chicago that doubles as a deep, raw, but fascinating introspection of race and identity in America. Was surprised how much I enjoyed this book, albeit hesitant to reveal its cover.
July 1, 2009
I read all Slims books honest stories of the street back when....
June 28, 2017
Iceberg Slim should be in the American canon of great writers. Read him.
December 29, 2010
WM1: Cosa significa essere "black" nella società americana? Qual è il rapporto tra colore della pelle e "identità afro-americana"? Quanto bisogna essere scuri per essere "neri"? Come mai i più importanti leader del radicalismo nero (Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton...) avevano la pelle chiarissima? Quali spettri evoca l'accezione slang del verbo "to pass", "farsi credere bianco"?
Domande stupide, espressione di mentalità retrograde e situazioni arretrate dal punto di vista della convivenza civile. Eppure sono domande alle quali - in un paese ossessionato come pochi dalla questione razziale - è ancora molto difficile (o sin troppo facile) rispondere. Dal punto di vista 100% WASP, se hai "sangue di nero" sei comunque "di colore", poco importa quanto chiara sia la tua pelle e quanto "bianchi" (caucasoidi) siano i tuoi lineamenti. Persino di Warren Harding, presidente degli Stati Uniti dal 1920 al 1923, si diceva che sotto sotto fosse... "un negro". C'è chi sostiene che dietro la sua morte improvvisa (per avvelenamento?) ci fosse una congiura dell'establishment bianco, che non tollerava la presenza alla Casa Bianca di un presidente oggetto di simili dicerie.
Di contro, all'interno delle comunità afro-americane - anche tramontata la cultura delle diverse gradazioni di "sangue nero", in ragione delle quali si era definiti "negroes", "mulattoes", "quadroons" o "high yellow" (in ordine decrescente di "negritudine") - le leggi del darwinismo sociale hanno spesso privilegiato chi aveva la pelle chiara, il che ha prodotto una serie di contraddizioni, paradossi e "doppi vincoli" (risentimento o invidia da parte dei più "scuri", senso di colpa o vergogna da parte dei "troppo chiari" etc). Riflessioni su questo tema sono sparse in tutta la letteratura afro-americana del XX° secolo, compresi testi sacri del Potere Nero come l'autobiografia di Malcolm X o Anima in ghiaccio di Eldridge Cleaver.
Quanto tutta questa retorica razziale serva a occultare meccanismi di divisione e discriminazione che sono prevalentemente socioeconomici, è argomento di cui non possiamo occuparci qui.
Qualcuno ricorderà che Philip Roth si è occupato del "passare per bianco" nel suo romanzo La macchia umana (Einaudi, 2001). Anche Sputerò sulle vostre tombe di Boris Vian ha come protagonista un nero che "passa". Ma è Iceberg Slim (pseudonimo di Robert Beck, 1922-1992) l'autore della narrazione più esplosiva in materia, Trick Baby, da poco tradotto e pubblicato dalla ShaKe nella collana "Blackprometheus", interamente dedicata ai narratori afroamericani.
Negli ultimi anni diversi romanzi di Iceberg Slim (ex-magnaccia, grande cantore dell'underworld criminale dei ghetti neri, precursore dell'immaginario "gangsta rap") sono stati tradotti in italiano: Il pappa (Guanda, 1999), il lacerante Black Mama (ShaKe, 2002) e ora Trick Baby, uscito negli USA nel 1967.
"Trick" significa "trucco", ma è anche espressione slang per il cliente di una prostituta. Nel Southside nero della Chicago anni Trenta/Quaranta/Cinquanta, un "negro bianco" non può che dare adito a certe maligne supposizioni, non può che essere figlio di un errore, il "bebè del trick". Johnny O' Brien, padre irlandese e madre nera dalla pelle chiara, è tanto "dritto" e tanto "negro" da portare il soprannome di "White Folks", Gente Bianca. Di suo padre, un jazzista irlandese, non ha notizie da quand'era piccolo. Sua madre è in manicomio. "Folks" vive col nero Blue Howard, maestro di vita e abilissimo truffatore. Insieme s'ingegnano, si sbattono, escogitano mille modi per separare il denaro dai cretini. Folks ha capelli biondi e occhi azzurri, vive a cavalcioni dello steccato razziale, potrebbe "passare" definitivamente in qualunque momento, ma parla come un nero, si sente un nero, è fiero di esserlo. Gli capita sovente di essere aggredito - verbalmente o fisicamente - da neri, e tutte le volte urla: "Sono un negro come voi!". Johnny O' Brien è una contraddizione vivente, accumula delusioni e frustrazioni ma ogni volta riparte grazie alla solidarietà della "sua" gente, impersonata da Blue Howard (personaggio riuscitissimo) e dai suoi amici truffatori. Una storia a tratti esilarante e a tratti straziante, in cui - oltre alla questione del paradosso razziale - viene indagato il lato "oscuro" dell'affabulazione, del raccontare storie per fregare il prossimo (nessuno che non lo meriti per motivi prettamente di classe, comunque). I libri e i film sulle truffe sono sempre coinvolgenti, da La stangata in avanti, e questo non sfugge certo alla regola, anche perché fa partire la truffa dal "trick" primario, da quel "trucco" genetico che permette a Folks di "passare". Il Black English (o spoken soul, o ebonics: l'inglese parlato dagli afroamericani) e il gergo dei criminali dell'epoca sono resi molto bene da Giancarlo Carlotti, che ricorre ai gerghi della mala nostrana (soprattutto milanese) dal Dopoguerra in avanti. Costa 15 euro, e garantisco che sono ben spesi. Leggerlo ci prepara agli strani paradossi etno-culturali che ci troveremo ad affrontare nell'Italia di un futuro non remoto. Speriamo di riuscire a farlo con meno paranoie di quante se ne facciano gli americani.
http://www.wumingfoundation.com/italiano/Giap/nandropau…
Domande stupide, espressione di mentalità retrograde e situazioni arretrate dal punto di vista della convivenza civile. Eppure sono domande alle quali - in un paese ossessionato come pochi dalla questione razziale - è ancora molto difficile (o sin troppo facile) rispondere. Dal punto di vista 100% WASP, se hai "sangue di nero" sei comunque "di colore", poco importa quanto chiara sia la tua pelle e quanto "bianchi" (caucasoidi) siano i tuoi lineamenti. Persino di Warren Harding, presidente degli Stati Uniti dal 1920 al 1923, si diceva che sotto sotto fosse... "un negro". C'è chi sostiene che dietro la sua morte improvvisa (per avvelenamento?) ci fosse una congiura dell'establishment bianco, che non tollerava la presenza alla Casa Bianca di un presidente oggetto di simili dicerie.
Di contro, all'interno delle comunità afro-americane - anche tramontata la cultura delle diverse gradazioni di "sangue nero", in ragione delle quali si era definiti "negroes", "mulattoes", "quadroons" o "high yellow" (in ordine decrescente di "negritudine") - le leggi del darwinismo sociale hanno spesso privilegiato chi aveva la pelle chiara, il che ha prodotto una serie di contraddizioni, paradossi e "doppi vincoli" (risentimento o invidia da parte dei più "scuri", senso di colpa o vergogna da parte dei "troppo chiari" etc). Riflessioni su questo tema sono sparse in tutta la letteratura afro-americana del XX° secolo, compresi testi sacri del Potere Nero come l'autobiografia di Malcolm X o Anima in ghiaccio di Eldridge Cleaver.
Quanto tutta questa retorica razziale serva a occultare meccanismi di divisione e discriminazione che sono prevalentemente socioeconomici, è argomento di cui non possiamo occuparci qui.
Qualcuno ricorderà che Philip Roth si è occupato del "passare per bianco" nel suo romanzo La macchia umana (Einaudi, 2001). Anche Sputerò sulle vostre tombe di Boris Vian ha come protagonista un nero che "passa". Ma è Iceberg Slim (pseudonimo di Robert Beck, 1922-1992) l'autore della narrazione più esplosiva in materia, Trick Baby, da poco tradotto e pubblicato dalla ShaKe nella collana "Blackprometheus", interamente dedicata ai narratori afroamericani.
Negli ultimi anni diversi romanzi di Iceberg Slim (ex-magnaccia, grande cantore dell'underworld criminale dei ghetti neri, precursore dell'immaginario "gangsta rap") sono stati tradotti in italiano: Il pappa (Guanda, 1999), il lacerante Black Mama (ShaKe, 2002) e ora Trick Baby, uscito negli USA nel 1967.
"Trick" significa "trucco", ma è anche espressione slang per il cliente di una prostituta. Nel Southside nero della Chicago anni Trenta/Quaranta/Cinquanta, un "negro bianco" non può che dare adito a certe maligne supposizioni, non può che essere figlio di un errore, il "bebè del trick". Johnny O' Brien, padre irlandese e madre nera dalla pelle chiara, è tanto "dritto" e tanto "negro" da portare il soprannome di "White Folks", Gente Bianca. Di suo padre, un jazzista irlandese, non ha notizie da quand'era piccolo. Sua madre è in manicomio. "Folks" vive col nero Blue Howard, maestro di vita e abilissimo truffatore. Insieme s'ingegnano, si sbattono, escogitano mille modi per separare il denaro dai cretini. Folks ha capelli biondi e occhi azzurri, vive a cavalcioni dello steccato razziale, potrebbe "passare" definitivamente in qualunque momento, ma parla come un nero, si sente un nero, è fiero di esserlo. Gli capita sovente di essere aggredito - verbalmente o fisicamente - da neri, e tutte le volte urla: "Sono un negro come voi!". Johnny O' Brien è una contraddizione vivente, accumula delusioni e frustrazioni ma ogni volta riparte grazie alla solidarietà della "sua" gente, impersonata da Blue Howard (personaggio riuscitissimo) e dai suoi amici truffatori. Una storia a tratti esilarante e a tratti straziante, in cui - oltre alla questione del paradosso razziale - viene indagato il lato "oscuro" dell'affabulazione, del raccontare storie per fregare il prossimo (nessuno che non lo meriti per motivi prettamente di classe, comunque). I libri e i film sulle truffe sono sempre coinvolgenti, da La stangata in avanti, e questo non sfugge certo alla regola, anche perché fa partire la truffa dal "trick" primario, da quel "trucco" genetico che permette a Folks di "passare". Il Black English (o spoken soul, o ebonics: l'inglese parlato dagli afroamericani) e il gergo dei criminali dell'epoca sono resi molto bene da Giancarlo Carlotti, che ricorre ai gerghi della mala nostrana (soprattutto milanese) dal Dopoguerra in avanti. Costa 15 euro, e garantisco che sono ben spesi. Leggerlo ci prepara agli strani paradossi etno-culturali che ci troveremo ad affrontare nell'Italia di un futuro non remoto. Speriamo di riuscire a farlo con meno paranoie di quante se ne facciano gli americani.
http://www.wumingfoundation.com/italiano/Giap/nandropau…
September 18, 2023
Explosive, tragic, powerful, and raw. Great structure of storytelling.
July 16, 2024
Trick Baby is slang for the son of a black prostitute that was conceived with a white trick. This story is set on the South side of Chicago. The trick baby in question, named 'White Folks' is one of the more clever and street-smart hustlers and con men. But con men can get conned and White Folks falls prey. There is sex and some violence, but that is to be expected.
As with many of these types of books, the city is a character all by itself.
Recommended.
As with many of these types of books, the city is a character all by itself.
Recommended.
May 22, 2015
Great story! Incredible detail on life in the Chicago ghettos of 20 's & 30's. One hell of an adventure. It took me a few chapters to get conned into the tale but by the end I was ready to read the sequel. Slim is a slick and prolific ghetto fiction writer that should be better recognized for his incredible works.
December 1, 2017
Great Book
I ran across this book totally by mistake, I can't tell you how pleased I was. This is just a very interesting story about a con man in mid 20th century conman in Chicago who fits in neither the black or white world.
I ran across this book totally by mistake, I can't tell you how pleased I was. This is just a very interesting story about a con man in mid 20th century conman in Chicago who fits in neither the black or white world.
July 15, 2008
Everybody it a trick sometimes, and everybody is a pimp.
September 22, 2008
Iceberg Slim tells the story of a blue eyed, light haired, white skinned Negro called "White Folks" He was the most incredible con man the ghetto ever spawned!
September 12, 2009
This book was made into a film that I remember was pretty good.
September 19, 2017
Not at good as Iceberg's first book. I just didn't find White Folks as compelling a character.
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