Novelist, philosopher Charles Johnson speaks at °®ÎŰ´«Ă˝
Noted African American novelist and philosopher Charles Johnson read from some of his works and joined °®ÎŰ´«Ă˝ College President Marc Conner and Visiting Distinguished Writer-in-Residence Calvin Baker in a Q&A discussion.
Following a virtual reading and discussion, the floor opened for additional questions from the audience.
The Thursday, April 29, event was sponsored by °®ÎŰ´«Ă˝â€™s Racial Justice Initiative, in partnership with the College’s English, Black Studies, Asian Studies, Philosophy and Art departments and Tang Teaching Museum.
“Johnson’s fiction shows a range of thought and form perhaps without parallel in American literary history: ranging from magical realism to brutal naturalistic description, from the conjuring tale to the fable, from rollicking comedy to poignant tragedy,” said Conner, a widely published literary scholar and an editor of the 2007 volume “Charles Johnson: The Novelist as Philosopher.”
Baker is an acclaimed chronicler of the African American experience. His most recent book is “A More Perfect Reunion: Race, Integration and the Future of America.”
In addition to his novels, Johnson has published four volumes of short fiction: “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (1986), “Soulcatcher” (1998), “Dr. King’s Refrigerator: And Other Bedtime Stories” (2007), and “Night Hawks: Stories” (2018).
As much a philosopher as a fiction writer, Johnson is a practicing Buddhist who was raised in the A.M.E. Church; a Sanskrit scholar who holds a doctorate in western philosophy; and a martial artist. He is also an accomplished visual artist who began publishing his own cartoons in the late 1960s and has produced two volumes of visual art.
A dedicated teacher of writing and literature for more than three decades, his published works also include numerous essays and two major photo-biographies of the Civil Rights era.