The Kind of Light That Shines on Texas: Stories [Paperback]

Reginald McKnight (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1996

This collection of short stories, by award-winning author Reginald McKnight, explores the rich and complex experience of the African American middle class, from a small southern classroom to a mythical Africa to suburban streets.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Filled with sharp humor and pitch-perfect dialogue, these seven stories explore African American experience with telegraphic urgency. In the deeply satisfying title story, which won an O. Henry Award, an insecure 12-year-old, son of an Air Force sergeant who's away in Vietnam, defeats the school bully. The young hero is black, his tormentor is white, and the story tackles institutionalized racism and the hollowness of Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" as experienced in Waco, Tex. Even more impressive is "Roscoe in Hell," a supernatural yet scathingly realistic fantasy about a crack addict looking back on his life from the vantage point of a free-for-all party in his new abode, hell. "Soul Food" mirrors the soul of a homeless pickpocket/ex-male prostitute. In the raucous "Peacetime," set in East L.A. in 1973, a sensitive, flute-playing Marine almost loses his virginity under the tutelage of two scary dudes. The fable "Homunculus," centered on a lovesick poet, is a pool of wisdom about art as both mediator and cannibalizer of life. A master of narrative pacing, novelist McKnight ( I Get on the Bus ) evokes a quicksand world where survival is a victory.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Here are seven tales of fable, fantasy, futurism, and black American experience. The title story, which has won both the Kenyon Review New Fiction Prize and O. Henry Award, tells of a military brat who encounters the bully of prejudice in himself. In the final story, a disintegrating United States turns to cannibalism, while rape, drugs, and violence are themes of other stories. Thus, a visiting grandmother listens to each floor creak differently and recognizes the tradition of violence that has been handed down in her family. The writing is sometimes convoluted but effectively captures spoken voices, from drug dealers to five-year-olds. The author's previous works include another collection, Moustapha's Eclipse (Univ. of Pittsburgh Pr., 1988), and the novel I Get on the Bus ( LJ 5/1/90). For collections of literary fiction.
- Nancy Shires, East Carolina Univ., Greenville, N.C.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Southern Methodist University Press; 1st Southern Methodist University Press ed edition (August 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870744143
• ISBN-13: 978-0870744143
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,519,909 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, December 26, 2001

By 

Jeanne M. Engelkemeir (Vernon Hills, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Kind of Light That Shines on Texas: Stories (Paperback)

The sensitivity and creativity with which the characters within these short stories grace the pages is a gift for us as readers, and an even more gracious gift of insight into our vast humanness. Go Reggie! Reading McKnight is an experience one wants never to end!