My Life of Absurdity: The Autobiography of Chester Himes

by Chester Himes

The author shares the experiences of his later years as an internationally known writer in Paris' expatriate cafe society

Genres: Biography, Autobiography, Nonfiction, African American

391 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 1990

About the author

Chester Bomar Himes began writing in the early 1930s while serving a prison sentence for armed robbery. From there, he produced short stories for periodicals such as Esquire and Abbott's Monthly. When released, he focussed on semi-autobiographical protest novels.

In 1953, Himes emigrated to France, where he was approached by Marcel Duhamel of Gallimard to write a detective series for Série Noire, which had published works from the likes of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Jim Thompson. Himes would be the first black author included in the series. The resulting Harlem Cycle gained him celebrity when he won France's Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for La Reine des Pommes (now known in English as A Rage in Harlem) in 1958. Three of these novels have been adapted into movies: Cotton Comes to Harlem, directed by Ossie Davis in 1970; Come Back, Charleston Blue (based on The Heat's On) in 1972; and A Rage in Harlem, starring Gregory Hines and Danny Glover in 1991.

In 1968, Himes moved to Spain where he made his home until his death.

Reviews

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not like I need to like a person to like their writing. And I think Chester Himes is a good writer, although this is the first thing of his that I have read. Having said that, I now want to go read his detective stories, and also the first half of his autobiography. But I did not like him, at least in the first half of this book.

It may have been picking up his life story halfway through. More likely, it was the way he treated his German girlfriend Marlene. His descriptions of her are so ugly, and they clearly had an unhealthy relationship. And in general, he's very concerned with white women--either as status symbols for the men they date, or as potential oppressors in their own right or beneficiaries of the racism of the U.S. (and beyond). I think he, as many people do, sees his own plight as more difficult and hard-fought than other oppressed groups, though even within his own writing these other plights become evident (everyone seems FINE with hitting "out of control" women).

At the same time, his portrayal of "life abroad," which often gets a nice romanticized sheen from U.S. artists living in Paris is full of lumps and problems, and that's refreshing. His description of "importing" a car and the absurdity of bureaucracy is hilarious. And his run-around with French publishing houses making money from him while he lives in poverty is sad and telling. And his fame's incongruity with his poverty.

I enjoyed his comments on writing, and his long stretches of not getting anything done. That comforts me. Although I need to write SOMETHING before I get to have long bouts of unproductivity.

Gotta get The Five-Cornered Square. And the first half of the autobiography.

[Kat · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was kind of a hot mess. I understand why my professor assigned it, but it was pretty horrible. Not poorly-written or particularly ignorant, but horrible in the sense of the movie 'Kids' -- eloquently done with distasteful subject matter. When I realized (and wrote a paper exploring) that the book can be read as an existentialist text, I appreciated it more. But I liked it no better.

[Eric Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second volume of his great autobiography.