Chester Himes

by James Sallis

Copyright © 2000 by James Sallis

  Electronic edition published in January 2012

  First published in the United States of America in 2001 by

  Walker Publishing Company, Inc.;

  first published in Great Britain in 2000 by

  Payback Press, an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  The chapter title 'Black Ruins of My Life' is from

  “The City” by C. P. Cavafy, Collected Poems (New Jersey:

  Princeton University Press, 1992), p.28 (“Wherever I turn

  I see black ruins of my life”).

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  ISBN: 978-0-8027-4357-2

  Sallis, James, 1944—

  Chester Himes: a life / James Sallis.

  p. cm.

  Includes index.

  1. Himes, Chester B., 1909-84. 2. Novelists,

  American—20th century—Biography. 3. Afro—

  American novelists—Biography. I. Title

  PS3515.I713Z84 2000

  813.’54—dc21 00-063328