Author Frank Yerby (1916-1991) was renowned and controversial in his day, but his works mysteriously and gradually slipped out of print. Eventually he was forgotten in mainstream literature. Speak Now is Yerby's twenty-third novel and his first to feature a black protagonist. First appearing in 1969, it is once again available. Set in 1968 Paris against a tense, complex background of student revolts, political upheaval, and social change, Speak Now traces the course of the bittersweet romance between Harry Forbes, a black ex-pat jazz musician, and Kathy Nichols, a privileged white southern girl. In an unforgiving world, these two haunted figures are forced to come to terms with their pasts, their oppressive heritages, and their embittered prejudices.
Yerby brings to this explosive work his formidable vigor, imagination, and great narrative skill, offering the reader an intensely personal story thick with corrosive honesty and brutal truths. Through Harry and Kathy, Yerby criticizes southern fiction's romantic view of the South; targets historical inaccuracies; and grapples with the universal themes--for instance, "victim's guilt"--that infuse much of his writing. Both provocative and entertaining, Speak Now is poised to reclaim the position it deserves at the forefront of transformative twentieth-century African-American fiction.
Gene Jarrett, a Yerby scholar, provides a new and insightful introduction that lays the groundwork for a Yerby renaissance. This, the definitive edition of Speak Now, is perfect for class adoption and makes Yerby readily accessible to new generations of readers.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Yerby brings to this explosive work his formidable vigor, imagination, and great narrative skill, offering the reader an intensely personal story thick with corrosive honesty and brutal truths. Through Harry and Kathy, Yerby criticizes southern fiction's romantic view of the South; targets historical inaccuracies; and grapples with the universal themes--for instance, "victim's guilt"--that infuse much of his writing. Both provocative and entertaining, Speak Now is poised to reclaim the position it deserves at the forefront of transformative twentieth-century African-American fiction.
Gene Jarrett, a Yerby scholar, provides a new and insightful introduction that lays the groundwork for a Yerby renaissance. This, the definitive edition of Speak Now, is perfect for class adoption and makes Yerby readily accessible to new generations of readers.
Genre: Literary Fiction
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