John Henry Days [Paperback]

Colson Whitehead's second novel, John Henry Days, posits a folk anti-hero for the information age: junketeer and puff-piece-writing man J Sutter. For his latest assignment, this freelance hack is sent to Talcott, West Virginia, to cover its John Henry Days festival and the unveiling of the USPS's John Henry stamp. Sutter hasn't devoted much thought to American mythology lately or to the epic struggle of man versus machine or to anything else besides padding his expense account and cadging free drinks. Still, our hero is engaged in a private contest of his own in which he plans to attend a PR event every single day. Alas, this journalistic obstacle course threatens to eradicate Sutter's soul, just as the folkloric steam shovel eradicated John Henry's body. Whitehead cuts back and forth between eras and exploits. And what begins as a media-saturated satire soon turns into a jazzy, expansive meditation on man, machine, nature, race, history, myth and pop culture--in short, on America, as expressed through the story of (who else?) a former slave.

Following on the heels of The Intuitionist, Whitehead's widely praised debut, John Henry Days won't disappoint anyone who delighted in that book's wonderfully quirky writing or its complex allegories of race. The historical set pieces here dazzle and the author casts a withering eye on our media-driven culture: "Since the days of Gutenberg, an ambient hype wafted the world, throbbing and palpitating. From time to time, some of that material cooled, forming bodies of dense publicity." Still, these brilliant parts don't necessarily add up to a satisfying whole. Whitehead writes the kind of smart, allusive, highly wrought prose that is impressive sentence by sentence. Over the course of 400 pages though, it can be somewhat daunting; it's a bit like eating a meal in which each of the seven courses comes topped with hollandaise sauce. Worse, some of the characters' motivations remain abstract, as if the author hovered so far above his creations that their foibles struck him as simple absurdities. In a novel of this calibre, of course, much can be forgiven. But one is eager to see Whitehead make an emotional investment in his characters. The result will be fiction that engages the heart as well as the head. --Mary Park, Amazon.com --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Blithely gifted…an ambitious, finely chiselled work.' John Updike

' Hugely talented…Colson Whitehead has produced an immensely rich, many stranded novel. The writing is inspired on every page. Just Wonderful! One of my books of the year.' Time Out

'Such is the buoyancy of his talent, and the protean assuredness of his prose, that the result is controlled, poignant, wittily observed and often gleefully comic.' Guardian

'Colson Whitehead's dazzling second novel…It may be nothing new to suggest that history is fiction; but the pleasure of reading this ingenious patchwork lies in how it reminds us of the vitality of those fictions.' Independent on Sunday

'”John Henry Days” is funny and wise and sumptuously written.' New York Times

'Witty, acerbic and immensely compelling…fresh and evocative…Whitehead is a first-rate writer who has produced a novel that is compelling'. Financial Times

Colson Whitehead has produced an immensely rich, many stranded novel. The writing is inspired on every page...

'An entertaining, thoroughly invigorating style. I look forward to Colson's Comeback.'

‘John Henry Days’ is a novel of extraordinary scope and mythic power. Recognised as one of the novels of 2001, it establishes Colson Whitehead as one of the pre-eminent young American writers of our time.

Building the railways that made America, John Henry died with a hammer in his hand moments after competing against a steam drill in a battle of endurance. The story of his death made him a legend.

Over a century later, J. Sutter, a freelance journalist and accomplished expense account abuser, is sent to West Virginia to cover the launch of a new postage stamp at the first 'John Henry Days' festival.

John Henry Days is a riveting portrait of America. Through a patchwork of interweaving histories Colson Whitehead triumphantly reveals how a nation creates its present through the stories it tells of its past.

Building the railways that made America, John Henry died with a hammer in his hand moments after competing against a steam drill in a battle of endurance. The story of his death made him a legend. Over a century later, J. Sutter, a freelance journalist and accomplished expense account abuser, is sent to West Virginia to cover the launch of a new postage stamp at the first 'John Henry Days' festival.

John Henry Days is a riveting portrait of America. Through a patchwork of interweaving histories Colson Whitehead triumphantly reveals how a nation creates its present through the stories it tells of its past.

"Blithely gifted…an ambitious, finely chiselled work
JOHN UPDIKE

"The sumptuous writing has the structure and quality of music…A voice so intelligent and idiom so imaginative that it can lift a reader right out of his chair.."
NEW YORK TIMES

"Such is the buoyancy of his talent, and the protean assuredness of his prose, that the result it controlled, poignant, wittily observed and often gleefully comic."
MAYA JAGGI, 'Guardian'

"'John Henry Days' is funny, wise and sumptuously written."
JOHNATHAN FRANZEN author of 'The corrections'

Colson Whitehead was born in New York in1969 and graduated from Harvard in 1991. His first novel, THE INTUITIONIST. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.