Portrait of an Expatriate: William Gardner Smith, Writer

(Hardback)

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LeRoy S. Hodges, Jr., has written a lively and informative biography of a Black writer of merit whose works have not enjoyed the wide readership they deserve. Interweaving discussion and criticism of William Gardner Smith's literary work with an account of his life, Hodges provides summaries and critical evaluations of Smith's novels and his nonfiction. He gives us insight into the experience of Black writers who chose to live abroad and looks searchingly at the problem of alienation.

Reviews

This biographical study fills a significant void in the history of Afro-American expatriate literature. Known primarily for his novels Last of the Conquerors (1948) and The Stone Face (1963), William Gardner Smith was an important figure in the literary-cultural movement that included Richard Wright, James Baldwin, and Chester Himes. Previously, however, Smith has received only cursory treatment in books on those figures and general studies.... Hodges provides a sensitive overview of Smith's life from his childhood in South Philadelphia and his military service in postwar Germany through his journalistic career in Paris and Ghana. In the process, Hodges provides interesting insights and specualtion concerning events such as the Gibson Affair' that raise additional questions concerning attempts of the U.S. government to fragment the Afro-American expatriate community. The detailed summaries of Smith's four novels and his one book of nonfiction are valuable elements of what will probably remain the standard study of an interesting writer of the second rank.-Choice
"This biographical study fills a significant void in the history of Afro-American expatriate literature. Known primarily for his novels Last of the Conquerors (1948) and The Stone Face (1963), William Gardner Smith was an important figure in the literary-cultural movement that included Richard Wright, James Baldwin, and Chester Himes. Previously, however, Smith has received only cursory treatment in books on those figures and general studies.... Hodges provides a sensitive overview of Smith's life from his childhood in South Philadelphia and his military service in postwar Germany through his journalistic career in Paris and Ghana. In the process, Hodges provides interesting insights and specualtion concerning events such as the Gibson Affair' that raise additional questions concerning attempts of the U.S. government to fragment the Afro-American expatriate community. The detailed summaries of Smith's four novels and his one book of nonfiction are valuable elements of what will probably remain the standard study of an interesting writer of the second rank."-Choice

Author Bio

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