Luckily I arrived early to hear Colson Whitehead at the Central Library. For some reason, we were in Room 108 instead of the Montgomery Auditorium. Many had to stand in the back, but they were glad they stayed.
Whitehead gives an amazing reading. With the hum and pop of a poet, he recites his passages. His voice is silk. As he is writing, he explained, he reads his material over and over again. He must have the whole book memorized.
His latest novel, Sag Harbor, is set in 1985 and is narrated by fifteen- year-old Benji. The first selection was from The Hey Day of Dag chapter. Benji arrives at Sag Harbor for the summer. Whitehead really captures the mentality and the one-upmanship of insults between boys that age. It’s a sport with specific rules and it requires sportsmanship. I admit I was getting a little lost as the narrator began to discuss the complex yet consistent way they addressed each other. Whitehead stopped to assist by giving the audience a visual aid. He looked very professorial in his skinny tie and grey vest over a crisp white shirt as he revealed the first of two charts written in a large sketchpad.
They illustrated that the “trend that summer, insult-wise, was toward grammatical acrobatics, the unlikely collage.” The comments were usually about appearance, using the very visual “in’” verbs. (These charts also appear in the book.)
| Modifier | In’ Verb | Object |
| Gorbachev | | Mother Fucker |
| Angela Davis | Lookin’ | Bitch |
| George Jefferson | | Nigger |
| Modifier | In’ Verb | Object |
| Garanimal-Ass | | Mother Fucker |
| 99¢ Gold Chain | Wearin’ | Bitch |
| Fake Adidas | | Nigger |
You can switch them around. For instance, Garanimal-Ass wearin' bitch. Or “ If someone had a birthmark he would be a Gorbachev lookin’ motherfucker.”
While Whitehead reads like a poet, he delivers like a comedian. People in the room were losing it. Whitehead had to wait for the laughter to die down before he could continue.
I’m hoping that there is a Sag Harbor Colorforms Special Edition in the works. Wouldn’t that be great?
The second selection was from the To Prevent Flare-Ups chapter. The big plot point as Whitehead likes to point out is that Benji is getting his first haircut at a barber’s. In the past, his father always cut his hair. Throughout the process, Benji tried not to move, but always did. So, his father had to keep trimming more and more of his ‘Fro. Whitehead is upfront that Sag Harbor is based on his youth. I couldn’t help but notice that his long dreads tied neatly at the base of his neck reached his mid-back.
The first question of the Q&A session was from a young writer who didn’t want to be a post-modern writer. Whitehead’s advice – write the story you are compelled to write. “They’re going to label you want they want in the end. And if they ask you, ‘Are you a post-modernist writer?’ Say, ‘I don’t even know what that word means.’ It works for me.”
I bought a book and waited in line to have Whitehead sign it. I’m a book geek, okay? I asked if he did the audio versions of his books, because I’d consider buying them all. He said he had only done The Colossus of New York; the others were too long and it’s an exhausting process. I can see why it would be. Whitehead is as hard working a reader as he is a writer.
Visit his website at www.colsonwhitehead.com for upcoming events.
