3: The Darker Brother

Okay, guessing time! Now, was the author a Midwestern whitey, son of a lumberjack, or was he an urban black fellow, first PhD graduate of Johns Hopkins? Since there is nothing at all misleading about my left of somber tone, “Bucklin Moon” is of course white. Actually, that’s his real name…well, the complete form is Bucklin Renssalear Moon which is even more outrageous and makes me question the validity of some group of people’s mind. I’m just not sure if it’s a general American fault, Midwestern originality (on the coasts, that translates into “wacky”), or, more specifically, a Wisconsin peculiarity.

So, this son of a lumberjack, in Wisconsin remember, parlays a college friendship with Zora Neale Hurston* into what was obviously an acceptable amount of cred as regards the African-American. Not only did he write the then acclaimed Darker Brother, but he also penned a Primer for White Folks. Pretty sure just the existence of these two justifies/explains at least 45% of Kanye West.

First note about the book—that big blurb on the back cover. “Born the wrong color” All in red. So right away you’re thinking raycess**, right? Oh no, Bantam Books covered that adding, in a way smaller and not red font, “…they said.” Ah, so Bantam and/or Bucklin aren’t raycess; it’s other people! That’s clear.

Second note. The back cover description ends with a segment of the Chicago Sun review…”has a far more telling and lasting impact than a dozen tales of horror.” You may not be aware, but the book review standard of expressing the value of a high work of literature in terms of horror novels began here. From the 2007 New York Times review of Thousand Splendid Suns, “worth at least three Stephen King Christine’s and one random Dean Koontz.”

Final note. Oh you better believe Bucklin wrote in sorta black “slang.” Sample sentence from the last page; “We liable tuh get knots beat all over the top uh our heads.” Nothing else I can say.

*No jokes here, I love Their Eyes Were Watching God.
**”Raycess” being the more phonetically pleasing form of “racist”.