Man Walking on Eggshells

By Herbert Simmons

Book Overview

First published in 1962, this novel is one of the most lyrical and authentic portraits of a jazz musician ever published. Born into violence, in the midst of a destructive tornado that flattens sections of East St. Louis, Raymond Douglas overcomes obstacles of family and race to become a jazz trumpeter whose music touches greatness. Rave praise for the Old School Books Series: One of the most exciting literary revival series since the rediscovery of Jim Thompson's novels... --Digby Diehl, Playboy If you can't get enough of Shaft, Foxy Brown (the original one) or Dolemite, then check Old School Books' new series of pulp novels featuring the boldest African-American authors of our time. These new cultural artifacts are fast-paced and hard. They take the brutality and ruin of the urban Black landscape and transform them into art. Each character in the series is searching for old school wisdom and never loses sight of the racial, political, and emotional context from which they came.--The Source My endorsement of Old School Books is a hundred percent. This is the kind of publishing program that shows serious readers that publishing can still be more than just a business. This is a cultural service of the highest order. W.W. Norton and Company deserves a standing ovation. Congratulations.--Clarence Major, University of California, Davis Glad to see that at least one publisher isn't afflicted with the bottom-line fever, the republishing of these old time classics proves that Norton is devoted to quality publishing. I'm especially glad to see John A. Williams' The Angry Ones used. It's as fresh as the day it was written.--Ishmael Reed, University of California, Berkeley As of late, members of the pulp pantheon are finding themselves being revised by Hollywood, scrutinized by serious academics, and canonized by the Library of America, though they never completely went out of fashion. But a little-known subgenre of pulp that faded from public view will soon be getting its second chance when Norton's Old School Books, a series of paperback reprint by black pulp novelists, hit bookstores.--Village Voice Literary Supplement

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393316181
• ISBN13: 9780393316186
• Release Date: August 1997
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

A Classic from Many Perspectives

This novel is an interesting, readable story; it presents an accurate view of different cultures (white and Negro ((as it would have been called when the novel was written; Afro-American it would be called today)))as they existed at the time; it touches on a social problem which was little-recognized then and remains so today--the "inherited" and devastating nature of abuse, particularly verbal abuse; and although it reflects the prevailing literary style of its time (it is reminiscent of both Joyce and Faulkner) it is predictive in that it contains some elements that are pre-McLuhan, McLuhanism. What more could one ask of a classic?

Words that read like jazz itself...

This book...it sings. It's music, heartbreak, pain, hope. It is one of the most powerfully and beautifully written things I have ever read. I sat on the plane from L.A. to Tucson and it filled up my chest the way tears sometimes do when you're holding them back, but only because I kept stumbling across sentences that were so exquisite I could hardly bear them, and living the pain of the characters and burning with anger at a racist violent world that should never have been allowed to exist, that we should have destroyed before it was even born...and yet that always will contain beauty and strength because people always have that in them. And Simmons' words ball it all out like Raymond Charles Douglas' horn, like Miles Davis, like the blues, the hurting beauty that does a heart good. Ha, you can tell I am a big old sucker when it comes to words, these are some of the best.

Provactive, insightful, characters that are painfully real

From the opening lines you feel the turmoil of one man's struggle with becoming a man. There isa deep sadness and confusion throughout the book that is masterfully captured in imagery and dialog. It reflects the soul of a jazz musician to its darkest and most enlightened moments. Beautiful piece of American Literature.