Translation of For Love of Imabelle a.k.a. A Rage in Harlem. The first and most popular of Himes's books to be translated into French.

I seem to recall hearing that Chester Himes wrote this (his first pulp novel after a number of more "literary" works) straight through from beginning to end, without planning or revising. It certainly reads that way, anyhow. New characters are introduced at any point (his famous cops Coffin Ed and Gravedigger don't appear until chapter 7), he decides to step back and describe Harlem in broad view in Chapter 11, the plot is less a plot than a frantic chase punctuated by bursts of violence, and there are inconsistencies and loose ends. I found an apropos quote from Himes: "I would sit in my room and become hysterical thinking about the wild incredible story I was writing. But it was only for the French, I thought, and they would believe anything about Americans, black or white, if it was bad enough. And I thought I was writing realism. It never occured to me that I was writing absurdity. Realism and absurdity are so similar in the lives of American blacks one cannot tell the difference." It is marred by way too frequent references to the characters' color; I will not express an opinion on whether the way he depicts Harlem is unfortunate or not. For sure, Imabelle is an absolutely classic femme fatale, one of the ones whose apparent helplessness is a weapon.

On the Book Swap shelf.