Lover Man
Lover Man by Alston Anderson, published by McNally Editions on February 7, 2023, is a 208-page collection that delves into the lives of loners, outsiders, and tricksters in the Jim Crow South. This edition revives Anderson’s 1958 work, which captures the hidden experiences of Black boys and men in the early 1940s, drawing inspiration from the bebop music he admired and the philosophical insights he gained at the Sorbonne. The stories explore themes of addiction, identity, and the spiritual toll of white supremacy, presenting a unique perspective on the era.
Readers will find a raw and fearless portrayal of characters such as jazzmen, drifters, and those marginalized by society. Anderson’s narratives challenge conventional storytelling, reflecting the complexities of life in a racially divided America. The afterword by literary historian Kinohi Nishikawa further contextualizes Anderson’s work, examining the controversies it sparked and its significance in American literature. This edition of Lover Man not only reintroduces a pivotal voice in Black fiction but also invites reflection on the enduring impact of its themes.
Official synopsis Publisher
Stories of loners, outsiders, tricksters, addicts, jazzmen, and drifters in the Jim Crow South—a classic of 1950s Black fiction.
Raw, fearless, ironic, the stories in Lover Man (1958) promised the birth of a new sensibility in American fiction. Inspired by the bebop he loved, and the philosophy he studied at the Sorbonne, Alston Anderson looked back at the North Carolina of his youth to capture the hidden lives of Black boys and men in the early 1940s. Fascinated by loners and outsiders—tricksters, addicts, jazzmen, drifters, “queers”—and by the spiritual cost exacted by the myths of white supremacy, Anderson assembled an original kind of story collection, whose themes troubled and bewildered many of his early readers. Although later championed by Langston Hughes and Henry Louis Gates. Jr., among others, this—his only collection—has remained out of print since the ’50s.
In his afterword to this new edition, the literary historian Kinohi Nishikawa investigates Anderson’s brief but brilliant career, the controversy his work provoked, and the light it sheds on his era.
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