1. LIFESTYLE. FASHION. CULTURE N 7
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2. While ourfall issue is dedicated tofashion, we always want to recognize our
pioneers who move usforward, whether on the runway] or in best selling authorE.
Lynn Harris'case, on the bookshelves. Bleu explores the impact this novelist and
memoirist had on the author and the world.
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MORE THAN JUST LEISURE, reading E. Lynn
Harris's debut novel, Invisible Life, was an act of
courage at age 15. Merely toting the paperback
novel was enough to spur second glances at
the suggestive cover, where a woman gently
embraces her man, only to find him gazing back
over his shoulder at another man who is in very
close proximity. Anyone familiar with the book,
orsimply those whocould discern the interaction
on the cover, knew what they were dealing with
when they saw the novel in the hands of a high-
school freshman. In a way, reading the book
was my silent coming-out: it was an acceptance
of my sexuality, and my decision to read the
book—openly, publicly—was my way of inviting
questions that my family and friends wouldn't
ask without provocation.
This type of internal dilemma is precisely the
focal point of Invisible Life, and questions of
sexuality are a common thread by which many
of E. Lynn's novels have been strung together.
The main character, Raymond Tyler, is a direct
tie to Harris, and his story was one that he
says he had to tell. "Not telling that story was
going to interfere with my life," he explains.His
determination to tell the story was so strong
that E. Lynn published the book himself and sold
if out of the back of his car when no publishers
expressed an interest. He learned that his largest
audience was (and still is) African American
women, so he frequented hair salons and beauty
shops, leaving his book and accepting phone
orders. With each delivery of 20 or 30 books,
he gained more and more readers and it wasn't
long before bookstores that had once refused
to carry his book were calling him for copies to
line their shelves. Invisible Life finally published
in February 1994, by Anchor Books.
Harris penned Invisible Life after suffering a
bout of depression, a stage he calls the "low
point" in his life. Like many authors, he says he
was led by "passion" into writing; and so he quit
a successful, yet unfulfilling, job as a computer
salesman to begin his career. His popularity has
allowed him to write continuously, and he has
published 10 books, at a pace of almost one a
year. Though his books were an instant success,
Harris admits that he didn't consider himself an
author until his third novel, And This Too Shall
Pass, landed at #11 on the New York Times
Bestseller List. It is one of five of his novels to
receive that honour.
Though he frequently uses song titles and
popular catchphrases as the titles of his books,
E. Lynn Harris often explores the taboo issue
of sexuality, which is largely unpopular in the
African American community, and many times
goes un-discussed. He was one of the first black
gay authors to explore the "down-low" (DL)
phenomenon in the 90's, and most recently,
homosexuality in Black churches. Due to the
real-life content of his books, and the fact that
he says he's simply "telling the truth" about
modern Black society, he feels that his books
are more than just "guilty pleasures"; they are
relatable and informative. They are written for
"people who want to learn something outside
their own world," he said, in a recent Meet The
Writers interview with Barnes and Noble.
After eight novels, Harris took a break from the
fictional characters and turned his focus inward,
producing his memoir, What Becomes of the
Brokenhearted. The memoir consolidated the
personal features that he had, hitherto, given
to the characters in his books, and delved into
his painful past, which he had been reluctant to
publicize.
Harris not only reveals his embarrassment over
his family's poverty and physical abuse by his
stepfather, but his shame was so daunting that it
led him to write a dishonest memoir, which was
never published. Brokenhearted took him seven
years to write, and he marks that book's as his
most uncomfortable. He recounts, "I remember
when I toured with that book, I really didn't
like reading out loud." However, his candor in
the book, detailing everything from his social
awkwardness as a child in Flint, Michigan, to
dating DL men in his adulthood, was endearing
to his readers and exposed a difficult path from
deep depression to self-acceptance.
Today, at 53-years-old, Everette Lynn Harris
writes candidly and truthfully, and even speaks
more openly about himself. His characters, he
maintains, are honest and modeled off of the
very people he encounters in his everyday life.
And he's still incorporating a bit of himself into
each one of his novels. His latest book, Just Too
Good To Be True was encouraged by his love of
college football, and contains inside knowledge
of college cheerleading, a sport he knows
very well from his days as the first Black male
cheerleader at the University of Arkansas, at
Fayetteville.
Harris graduated Fayetteville with honors and
a degree in Journalism. He has, since, returned
to the university as a visiting professor in the
English department.
The popular appeal of Harris's books continue to
gain him new fans and, in 2004, he saw his book,
Not A Day Goes By adopted into a stageplay,
headlined by Jackee Harry and fomer-American
Idol finalist Trenyce Cobbins. The music for the
play was written by Ashford and Simpson. A
musical is in the works for his break-out novel,
Invisible Life, which brought him to fame; and
2009 will see the release of another novel,
Basketball Jones, where "AJ Richardson" will
grapple with living someone else's lie, rather
than his own truth.
I started this journey with E. Lynn 10 years ago,
and have walked through the pages of each of
his books, pulling inspiration from the cast of
characters he has dreamed up—those very same
characters that gave this then-15 year old the
courage to explore the pages his own narrative
honestly and openly. DONTRE CONERLY