-
I think a joke is a form of truth-telling. A good joke that's absurd contains elements of our daily darkness and also a possibility to escape that darkness. So, for me, humor is an attempt to capture everyday tragedy and everyday hopeful moments that we experience all of the time.
Colson Whitehead -
Some books are well-received with critics; other books sell.
Colson Whitehead
-
'Driving while black' was taught to me at a young age.
Colson Whitehead -
If you go to a big publishing house, editorial aside, it's completely white.
Colson Whitehead -
I like questions that tee me up to make weird jokes, frankly.
Colson Whitehead -
I was always into comic books and horror stories and a huge consumer of pop culture. And then I worked for awhile for 'The Village Voice'.
Colson Whitehead -
I try to have each book be an antidote to the one before.
Colson Whitehead -
I've always thought the Nat Turner story to be very interesting.
Colson Whitehead
-
In 'John Henry Days,' I was taking my idea of junketeering and sort of blowing it up to absurd extremes.
Colson Whitehead -
The movie 'Rock 'n' Roll High School' was a sacred text in my household.
Colson Whitehead -
Once I got to college, it seemed that the Hamptons were a little bit too posh for me and didn't represent the kind of values I was embracing in my late teens. So, I didn't go out there, except to visit my parents, for a long time. And then, after 9/11, I discovered it was a nice, mellow place to hang out.
Colson Whitehead -
I admire Vegas's purity, its entirely wholesome artificiality.
Colson Whitehead -
I live in Brooklyn. I moved here 14 years ago for the cheap rent. It was a little embarrassing because I was raised in Manhattan, and so I was a bit of a snob about the other boroughs.
Colson Whitehead -
If you want to understand America, it's slavery.
Colson Whitehead
-
I don't generally follow sports. At an early age, I discovered that nature had apportioned me only a small reserve of enthusiasm. Best to ration.
Colson Whitehead -
Anytime an African-American writes an unconventional novel, the writer gets compared to Ellison. But that's O.K. I am working in the African-American literary tradition. That's my aim and what I see as my mission.
Colson Whitehead -
Usually, when I write a novel, it takes me about 100 pages to figure out the voice of the narrator.
Colson Whitehead -
I'm just trying to keep things rich for me creatively and for the readers who follow me.
Colson Whitehead -
I was 7 years old when 'Roots' was first broadcast, and my parents gathered all us kids around the TV to learn about how we got here. But it wasn't until I sat down and immersed myself in the research that I got the barest inkling of what it meant to be a slave.
Colson Whitehead -
Schools don't teach American history that well, especially a lot of black American history.
Colson Whitehead
-
Slavery was a violent, brutal, immoral system, and in accurately depicting how it worked, you have to include that, obviously. Or else you are lying.
Colson Whitehead -
In the apocalypse, I think those average, mediocre folks are the ones who are going to live.
Colson Whitehead -
I started writing in the '90s, so I was free to just have an eccentric career and not conform to some idea of what a black writer has to do. I didn't have the burden of representation.
Colson Whitehead -
I take inspiration from books, movies, television, music - it all goes in the hopper. Depending on the project, I'm drawing from this or that piece of art that has stayed with me. Toni Morrison, George Romero, Sonic Youth - they are all in there.
Colson Whitehead