Chester Himes, A Life, is an autobiography of the late African-American author. The book was written by James Sallis. According to Sallis, two of Himes’ books, which are considered stories, are autobiographies. They are The Third Generation, written in 1954 and The End of a Primitive, written in1955. Himes’ publishers considered the latter too daring and obscene in the 1950s. However, today, the book is written in its entirety.In 1909, Himes, the middle child of three sons, was born into a middleclass family in Missouri. His father was a college professor, and although hardworking, he moved the family from place to place. Himes’ mother, a housewife, was described as domineering, contentious and never satisfied.In 1912, what would shape Himes life about race relations was an accident involving his brother, Joseph. Because he was being punished, Himes did not conduct a gunpowder demonstration with his brother. Joseph was blinded by the gunpowder. When rushed to a hospital by his parents, Joseph was refused treatment because of his race. This shattered Himes. Himes blamed himself for his brother’s tragic accident.Because of guilt concerning Joseph’s accident, I think Himes life spiraled out of control. In high school, he was expelled for being a prankster. As a young man, Himes was attracted to the seedy world of pimps, prostitutes, and thieves. He was expelled from Ohio State College for taking classmates to a house of prostitution after their spring dance.Afterwards, according to Sallis, Himes, jailed for theft with a friend, appeared irredeemable. After a brief stint in jail, he had to earn his keep. Himes worked in a hotel, where he fell 14 floors after being scorned by a white female worker. The fall, self-inflicted, required a six month hospital stay for limbs, neck and back injuries. Thereafter, he would suffer chronic pain.After he recovered, Himes again returned to the sordid world of crime and prostitution. And, in 1925, Himes found himself sentenced to hard labor for 20 years, for armed robbery.In jail, Himes made use of his time, writing about his prison experiences. After reading novels by Dashiell Hammett in Esquire Magazine, Himes decided to try his hand at writing. His first article was published by Esquire in 1934. Himes wrote many articles thereafter for the magazine. At that time, Esquire had no idea Himes was black.After 11 years, in 1936, Himes was released from jail into his mother’s custody. He married his first wife, Jean Johnson that year.Himes didn’t want his wife, Jean, to work but there were times he was receptive to her prostituting to keep food on the table. During this period, he stayed home and wrote books.In the 1940s, Himes and his wife moved to Los Angeles. There, Himes wrote If He Hollers Let Him Go and the Lonely Crusade concerning the black migration from the south to the north.In 1945, his first book, If He Hollers Let Him Go was published. The movie version debuted in 1968, and starred Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier. Cotton Comes to Harlem, written in 1965, debuted on the silver screen in 1970.Considered one of the Harlem Renaissance writers along with his friends and fellow writers, the late Richard Wright and Langston Hughes, Himes wrote 20 books from 1945 to 1998. He is well known for his Harlem detective series. He was also friends with the late author, James Baldwin.Himes received acclaim for his books in France. Feeling his writing was more acknowledged in France, and considering his wife Jean a liability, Himes left the States without telling her in 1953. In the late 1950s, in Europe, Himes met his second wife, Lesley Packard Himes, a journalist for the Herald Tribune.Himes and Lesley moved to Moraira, Spain in 1969. He died in 1984.I didn’t enjoy reading James Sallis autobiography of Himes. Maybe I might have gotten a deeper view of Himes from his own autobiography. Maybe I wouldn’t like it. However, from this biography, although Himes was a powerfully descriptive writer, my conclusion is he was a selfish, unprincipled man. I am reading books by two other well-known late authors, Hemingway and Gordon Parks. The mot juste for these two writers, thus far, reveals their selfishness concerning the women that love them, their wives.
