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What is it like to be a black man in America today, and what is the nature of a literary effort to address the question?
Indiana University's John McCluskey Jr., chair of the Department of African-American Studies at IUB, spent seven years working with fellow editor Charles Johnson, winner of the 1990 National Book Award for Fiction for Middle Passage, in collecting responses from black American men with varied backgrounds and professions.
The result is Black Men Speaking, published by IU Press this summer. The book is a collection of voices and stories as varied as those of a physician, a community organizer, an artist, a musician, writers, teachers and the recently unemployed.
"We asked each for a description of major issues facing African-American males at this time and what solutions each would suggest for the future," said McCluskey. "Because we get a predictable, narrow view of black men in the popular media, I think the book will enlarge our view of the world and African-American males."
Literature helps us deal with the noise and other distractions in life, said McCluskey. "We need to have meaningful conversations. Television and movies don't always provide them.
"These essays really answer questions. They're interviews and stories."
Stories are at the center of the works and appeal strongly to the human connection with storytelling. "These essays are true and complex stories that must be told and retold," he said. "The works reflect their authors: all are earnest and scrutable, and some are discomforting as well for their acute social commentary.
"The essays don't just answer questions we had or that the writers had. They also answer questions that readers have; there are commonalities that can instruct readers at IU."