In the words of Charles Johnson... culled from published interviews On the Central Theme in His Works “If the principal novels and stories in body of work have a central theme it is the investigation of the nature of the self and personal identity. As a phenomenologist, I cannot help but believe that consciousness is primary for all ‘experience’ – that the nature of the I is the deepest of mysteries, and that all other questions arise from this primordial one, What am I?” (Boccia). On Reading Works by Black Authors “One of the greatest mistakes that critics and readers make when approaching a novel by a black author is the tendency to read that work as sociology, anthropology, or as a political statement of some sort. By taking such a limited and narrowing approach, critics and readers miss time and again the remarkable passages of ‘history’ and perception in Ellison’s Invisible Man, the treatment of temporal existence in Wright’s Native Son . . . As educators, I think we simply must help our students to become better readers – and to make clear the point that for many black writers ‘race’ is not the only subject they can write about with authority” (Boccia). On Freedom of Expression “Whatever our faults as Americans, we have protected freedom of expression. Often I wonder if our cultural nationalists and Afrocentrists value this feature of American public life – this philosophical demand that we permit the airing of views contrary to our own – much as I do. In a different, more closed society, or in another age (that of Copernicus or Socrates), I suspect my own work would be buried or banned as ‘ideologically unacceptable’” (Boccia). On America “I think this country will be remembered, perhaps as a glorious oddity, for the way it struggled to resolve the difference between its ideology of freedom and treatment of blacks, minorities, women, and gays. No other nation has wrestled more with the ideals of ‘equality’ and the commitment to individualism. The major domestic events in our history – the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement – attest to this. Whether or not we succeed in these social goals, it must be said of Americans in our time that we tried. We pushed the envelope of the question of social justice farther than any society in recorded history. Are we being fair? is our daily koan, and I think this defines the character of modern Americans” (Boccia). On Rutherford Calhoun’s character in Middle Passage Johnson says that in Buddhism, self is an illusion, that all we really have is a flow of sensory impressions. He contends that for him, the only way to talk about self is as a verb instead of a noun, as a process rather than a product. “. . . What he’s done is prehended or taken so much from the people who are already on that ship, from the Allmuseri to the various members of the ship – but he’s done that his entire life. That sort of tissue of world experience is what he is. He’s become much more humble in terms of making assumptions about objects and others. He’s more willing to listen and wait for them to speak, which is a very phenomenological position in the world” (Little). [Little]: “Does he lose himself, as Ellison would say, in the process of finding himself?” “I like that formulation, yeah. There’s a line by Husserl that’s really very nice: ‘I lose myself in the objects and the others.’ Yes. I do think that’s what it is. What he finds is not a fixed notion of the self. It’s something that’s very expansive” (Little). On Education “You cannot hold the university responsible for your intellectual life. The only person ultimately responsible for the diversity of your skills and the depth of your knowledge is you. You must bring the curiosity. You must bring the passion to – as the Greeks put it – ‘Know thyself.’ The only thing your teachers can provide is a strong yet flexible foundation for learning, one that we expect you will build upon for the remainder of your days on this earth” (Johnson). Sources: Boccia, Michael. “An Interview with Charles Johnson.” African American Review 30:6 (Winter 1996): 611-619. Johnson, Charles. Keynote Address. University of Washington. 29 Sept. 1996. CJA 12 Aug. 2004 <http://www.siu.edu/~johnson/knote.htm>. Little, Jonathan. “An Interview with Charles Johnson.” Contemporary Literature 34:2 (Summer 1993): 158-182.

Home: Background on Middle Passage In the words of Charles Johnson... Biography A few notes on the author's life In the author's words... Quotations from various published interviews with Johnson Travis Ferrell on Middle Passage A position paper submitted to Dr. Frazier.. Heidi Bradley on Middle Passage A position paper submitted to Dr. Frazier.. Rebecca Pitts on Middle Passage A position paper submitted to Dr. Frazier.. Jude Morris on Middle Passage A position paper submitted to Dr. Frazier.. Previous Issues