Dunfords Travels Everywheres, William Melvin Kelley
Dunfords Travels Everywheres, William Melvin Kelley
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Dunfords Travels Everywheres

Author: William Melvin Kelley

Narrator: Jay Smooth

Unabridged: 6 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/29/2020


Synopsis

WINNER OF THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARD • William Melvin Kelley's final work, a Joycean, Rabelaisian romp in which he brings back some of his most memorable characters in a novel of three intertwining stories.

"[A] lost giant of American Literature." —The New Yorker

Ride on out with Rab and Turt, two o'New Afriqueque's toughfast, ruefast Texnosass Arangers, as they battle Chief Pugmichillo and ricecure Mr. Charcarl Walker-Rider. Cut in on Carlyle Bedlowe, wrecker of marriage, saver of souls.

Or just along with Chig Dunford, product of Harlem and private schools, on the circular voyage of self-discovery that takes him from Europe's Café of One Hand to Harlem's Jack O'Gee's Golden Grouse Bar & Restaurant.

Beginning on an August Sunday in one of Europe's strangest cities, Dunfords Travels Everywheres but always returns back to the same point—the "Begending"—where Mr. Charcarl's dream becomes Chig Dunford's reality (the "Ivy League Negro" in the world outside the Ivory Tower).

“Among the most innovative and exciting novelists in the history of international literature, the opportunity to honor William Melvin Kelley with the American Book Award is a great privilege. Before Columbus Foundation is elated to welcome his work back into print, thanks to Anchor Books. It is a unique thrill to see Dunfords Travels Everywheres now illustrated in it’s new edition by Aiki Kelley, whom we also honor with this year’s Award. The majesty of William Melvin Kelley’s vital contribution to international letters remains urgent and evermore medicinal in its cosmic scope and unifying embrace. The total arc and panorama of human experience, embodied in the mythologies we share from antiquity to the present are fully illuminated in William Melvin Kelley’s artistry. An absolute virtuoso of the language, with Dunfords Travels Everywheres, William Melvin Kelley ignites the spiritual imagination, reviving and resuscitating images of our journey with wit and grace. His masterwork is truly a wonder to behold. Vivid, charismatic, mercurial, musical, Dunfords Travels Everywheres stands as one of the great contributions to the art of the novel. Laughing to keep from crying, living life not dying, this new illustrated edition sings a joyous, uplifitng song.” —Justin Desmangles, citation from the American Book Award

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jonathan on October 10, 2020

Well I am certainly going to be re-reading this, thats for sure. I guess there are different ways to swim in the wake of the Wake. Joyce was engaged in guerrilla warfare and his techniques are applicable to any attempt to break apart the dominant language of the coloniser, the oppressor. WMK is doin......more

Goodreads review by Cody on April 23, 2025

The 'I Can't Bend My Fucking Neck from Computer Use Thanks to Work, But I'm Still Trying to Catch Up on Reviews' Review OR, I May Be The Rare Asshole That Doesn’t Fellate Joyce (and I Feel No Guilt About It): If you didn't know you needed an Afrofuturist update of Finnegans Wake that is, impossibly,......more


Quotes

"[A] lost giant of American Literature." —The New Yorker

"William Melvin Kelley . . . brought a fresh, experimental voice to Black fiction in novels and stories that used recurring characters to explore race relations and racial identity in the United States." —William Grimes, The New York Times


Awards

  • American Book Award