Sallis - Chester Himes: a Life

Photograph of Himes as dashing young mannote damage to teethinscribed To my beloved sister-in-law Stell From my beloved me, Chester. (From the papers of Joseph Himes. Reproduced with permission of The Amistad Collection)

Faculty of Lincoln University, 1912. Includes Chesters father, Joseph Sandy Himes (second row, far left).
(From the Lincoln University Yearbook. Reproduced by permission of the Ethnic Studies Center at Lincoln University)

Chester in teen years.
(Photograph from the collection of Lesley Himes. Reproduced by permission of Lesley Himes)

1946 Van Vechten sitting.
(Photograph by Carl Van Vechten. From the Carl Van Vechten Photograph Collection of the Library of Congress. Reproduced by permission of the Library of Congress and the Van Vechten Trust)

Chester in 1954, shortly after arriving in Europe.
(Photograph from the collection of Lesley Himes. Reproduced by permission of Lesley Himes)

Chester at work at La Ciotat, circa 1956.
(Photograph from the collection of Lesley Himes. Reproduced by permission of Lesley Himes)

Chester in Paris in 1958, at the time of publication of his first detective novel, La Reine des pommes.
(Photograph from the collection of Lesley Himes. Reproduced by permission of Lesley Himes)

Chester with the VW, Vence, 1957.
(Photograph from the collection of Lesley Himes. Reproduced by permission of Lesley Himes)

Chester and Mikey, Vence, 1957.
(Photograph from the collection of Lesley Himes. Reproduced by permission of Lesley Himes)

Chester, Marcel Duhamel, and Picasso at Picassos chteau near Mougins, Cannes, 1961.
(Photograph from the collection of Lesley Himes. Reproduced by permission of Lesley Himes)

Chester with Mikey and pups, Paris, 1960.
(Photograph from the collection of Lesley Himes. Reproduced by permission of Lesley Himes)

1955 Van Vechten sitting.
(Photograph by Carl Van Vechten. From the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Reproduced by permission of the Van Vechten Trust)

1962 Van Vechten sitting.
(Photograph by Carl Van Vechten. From the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Reproduced by permission of the Van Vechten Trust.)

Chester, Lesley, and Griot, circa 1965.
(Photograph from the collection of Lesley Himes. Reproduced by permission of Lesley Himes)

Chester and Lesley with Joe Himes and Arlone at Joes house in North Carolina, Christmas 1973.
(Photograph from the collection of Lesley Himes. Reproduced by permission of Lesley Himes)

Chester with Joe Himes, North Carolina, 1973.
(Photograph from the collection of Lesley Himes. Reproduced by permission of Lesley Himes)

Chester and Lesley with Joe Himes and cousin, North Carolina, 1973.
(Photograph from the collection of Lesley Himes. Reproduced by permission of Lesley Himes)

Chester on his final visit to the States, 1980, taken while he and Lesley were staying at Ishmael Reeds home in Oakland.
(Photograph by Kaz Tsurata. Reproduced by permission of Kaz Tsurata)

NOVELS
The Long-Legged Fly
Moth
Black Hornet
Eye of the Cricket
Bluebottle
Death Will Have Your Eyes
Renderings

STORIES
A Few Last Words
Limits of the Sensible World
Times Hammers: Collected Stories

OTHER
Difficult Lives
Gently into the Land of the Meateaters
Ash of Stars: On the Writing of Samuel R. Delany (editor)
Saint Glinglin by Raymond Queneau (translator)
The Guitar Players
Jazz Guitars (editor)
The Guitar in Jazz (editor)

FORTHCOMING
Ghost of a Flea (novel)
Sorrows Kitchen (poems)
Black Nights Gonna Catch Me Here: Selected Poems 19681998

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