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Chester Himes

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Author

The Resume

    (July 29, 1909-November 12, 1984)
    Born in Jefferson City, Missouri
    Wrote ‘If He Hollers, Let Him Go’ (1945), ‘Cast the First Stone’ (1952), ‘The Third Generation’ (1955), ‘Black on Black’ (1973) and ‘My Life of Absurdity’ (1976)
    Wrote the Harlem Detective series of crime novels, including ‘Real Cool Killers’ (1959), ‘All Shot Up’ (1960), ‘Cotton Comes to Harlem’ (1965) and ‘Blind Man with a Pistol’ (1969)

Why he might be annoying:

    While in college, he was arrested for using a fake ID and passing a bad check.
    While out on bail, he stole a car, drove to an upscale neighborhood, broke into a house, and robbed the couple inside at gunpoint.
    He served seven and a half years in prison.
    He went into exile in France (1953).
    Despite setting eight crime novels there, he had only briefly visited Harlem.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He began getting short stories published in ‘Esquire’ while in prison.
    A brief Hollywood screenwriting career ended when Jack Warner heard about his hiring and declared, ‘I don’t want any niggers on this lot.’
    He won the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere, the most prestigious award in France for crime and detective fiction (1958).
    Henry Louis Gates called him ‘one of the towering figures of the black literary tradition.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 20 Votes: 45.00% Annoying