Foreigners

Zusatztext “[A] searching meditation on outsiders in England. . . . Foreigners is written! like all Phillips' books! in a style of even! sorrowful precision that enrages as it informs.” —Pico Iyer! Time “Heartbreaking. . . . For his artistic vision and moral courage! we owe Phillips a deep debt of gratitude.” — The Boston Globe “Inspired. . . . Foreigners makes [an] important contribution through the lens of personal history and narrative . . . Disconcertingly resonant.” — The Guardian (London) Informationen zum Autor Caryl Phillips was born in St. Kitts, West Indies. Brought up in England, he has written for television, radio, theater, and film. He is the author of four books of nonfiction and seven novels. His most recent book, Dancing in the Dark , won the 2006 PEN/Beyond Margins Award, and his previous novel, A Distant Shore , won the 2004 Commonwealth Prize. His other awards include the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, a Guggenheim fellowship, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Phillips lives in New York. www.carylphillips.com Klappentext From an acclaimed, award-winning novelist comes this brilliant hybrid of reportage, fiction, and historical fact: the stories of three black men whose tragic lives speak resoundingly to the problem of race in British society. With his characteristic grace and forceful prose, Phillips describes the lives of three very different men: Francis Barber, "given” to the 18th-century writer Samuel Johnson, whose friendship with Johnson led to his wretched demise; Randolph Turpin, a boxing champion who ended his life in debt and decrepitude; and David Oluwale, a Nigerian stowaway who arrived in Leeds in 1949 and whose death at the hands of police twenty years later was a wake up call for the entire nation. As Phillips weaves together these three stories, he illuminates the complexities of race relations and social constraints with devastating results. Leseprobe Doctor Johnson’s Watch It was a cold December morning, and the bitter wind penetrated my black cloak with ease. However, the stubborn sun continued to shine brightly in the sky, although it failed to bestow any warmth on either myself or the two dozen sombre souls gathered outside of Bolt Court. I glanced about my person, realising that I was part of a bizarre congregation that represented both high and low society, but how could we be anything other than a queer assembly of misfits when one considered the personage who was to be buried on this melancholy English morning?London society was still somewhat amused by the gossip relating to the recently departed Dr. Johnson’s final exchange with the sour-natured Sir John Hawkins, an apparently abrupt conversation which had taken place only some few short days before the doctor’s death. Understanding that his mortal time was limited, the doctor had demanded of his chief executor in that stern, almost impolite, tone that he had perfected, a tenor of voice which unfortunately masked his more cordial nature, “Where do you intend to bury me?” When the news of the doctor’s question reached the ears of the leisured gentlemen who recline in the smoke-filled coffee houses which constitute London’s informal business world, the question served only to occasion much laughter from both those who knew the gentleman personally, and from those who knew of him by reputation. Indeed, what kind of a question was this? “Where do you intend to bury me?” Apparently Sir John Hawkins maintained his countenance and answered plainly, “In Westminster Abbey.” He might well have continued and punctuated his uncharacteristically civil answer with the rather less civil question, “My good man, where else do you expect to be lain to rest?” According to Hawkins, on receiving this news the great man simply stared back and then, almost as an afterthought, ...

Product details

• Authors: Caryl Phillips
• Publisher: Vintage USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 11.11.2008
• EAN: 9781400079841
• ISBN: 978-1-4000-7984-1
• No. of pages: 256
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 201 mm x 15 mm
• Series: Vintage International; Vintage International
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature