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5 March 2005
Walter Mosley at Caltech
Walter Mosley delivered the Michelin Lecture at the Beckman Auditorium yesterday. He is a renowned writer of mystery novels and has invented many memorable characters, notably Easy Rawlins -- a unique fictional character in the history of American literature. Ezekiel Rawlins is -- almost by accident -- an African-American private investigator in a fictitious time in America when most private "eyes" were white Caucasians (Dick Tracy, Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe); he is embodied with all the desirable traits characteristic of his white counterparts -- he owns a house, is attractive and draws pretty women towards him.Mr. Mosley's talk began in proselytical tones as he ranted about the "crimes of capitalism" and racial discrimination but subsequently picked up pace. While he was slated to talk about the literary life he chose instead to lecture us on bearing witness -- his interpretation of himself as an African-American writer who wrote of his people and their tribulations. He exhorted us to "tell the truth at least once a day". From an awkward seemingly out of place opening wherein he spoke of having to opt out of his lunch engagement on Thursdays with a female acquaintance, he soon delved into his literary life -- how he enjoyed writing fiction more than he did non-fiction because there was no responsibility to "sway the reader" nor a commitment to influence his thinking in the former. His ordeals with his first publisher -- W W Norton -- centred on his use of the daring motif of Easy Rawlins. He dryly referred to the dialogue that ensued with his publisher:
"White men don't read about black heroes, black women love white men, and black men don't read". Moreover, as his publisher said to him, "there already was a black detective" (I wonder who that referred to). No matter that there were several "white detectives".
Mr. Mosley's contention was that since racial discrimination no longer had an identifiable face, as it were, it was difficult for people to fight it. As an example, he cited South Africa where Apartheid as a single word signified both the social stigma and a call to arms to help eliminate it but after Apartheid, South Africa continues to be plagued with a seething, latent disharmony. This theme of an underground racial tension in American culture even after the Civil Rights movement was also touched upon at the Eyes on the Prize screening sessions last month. After this brief sojourn into what was supposed to have been the pièce du jour, Mr. Mosley returned to the theme of bearing witness -- how does one bear witness and make a living? He called this an essential conundrum of our lives. He subsequently touched upon his foray into science fiction and nonfiction the latter of which was monetarily not very rewarding. An anecdote he related that formed the theme of one of his books was particularly amusing. A group of scientists from the United States had hit upon a toxin that would wipe out the entire "black race" but an eccentric genius into whose hands the formula falls, manages to reverse-engineer the formula and modify it so as to ensure the elimination of any "white" man who was not one-eighth of "black" descent. As a result, "white" men all over the world started to perish -- all, except the white Caucasians in America. Mr. Mosley called attention to his own mixed upbringing -- his father was African-American while his mother was Jewish and while he claimed that his Jewish family did not expressly consider themselves "white" they never wished to be treated otherwise. One of his many remarks that stayed with me was that one needs a history to bear witness to, and his was rich and full of pathos.Having pointed out his shortcomings as a speaker, and yet managing to hold us thoroughly enthralled for a good part of the hour, Walter Mosley took questions. Why had he moved to New York after having written almost all his books based on characters in Los Angeles? To this, his tart reply was that for all the charms that Los Angeles provided the one evil he could never live with was the driving, and in substantiation of this, he pointed out that from his home in New York both the hospital and the cemetery were within walking distance. As a testimony to how things have changed and how they continue to remain the same, Mr. Mosley mentioned that "there now is a Starbucks in Harlem. And it got robbed. Of course." The audience was a distinctly literate one with many of his admirers queuing up to ask him questions about Easy Rawlins and Socrates Fortlow. Had he ever faced "negative reviews" to Rawlins' character in light of his many seemingly unusually "white" traits? He pointed out that he got more grief from Fortlow's character than he did from Rawlins'. Fortlow was somebody who killed a man, raped his wife and killed her, went to prison, was discharged and was now seeking redemption. Many "white, male reporters" would often point to him that they thought they would never have forgiven Fortlow for what he did, and Mr. Mosley almost always had fun replying that "Fortlow doesn't care for what you think. He does what pleases him".
