Q: Given Calhoun's freedom
to move about the city, could the novel have been set anywhere other
than New Orleans?
Johnson: I don't believe
so. The poem on p.189, "Have You Ever Been in New Orleans,"
which is from the period in which this novel is set, captures nicely
the unusual character of that city.
Q: Calhoun has an unusual
level of education for a slave and Falcon for a ship's captain. Was
this a necessary device to further the philosophies you wanted to present?
Johnson: Some might
see their levels of education as "unusual," but I feel Calhoun
should be compared, for example, to Frederick Douglass (his mind was
pansophical), and Falcon to, say, Wolf Larsen in Jack London's THE SEA
WOLF, where Larsen intellectually is an interesting blend of Nietzsche
and Darwin.
Q: At times the novel seems very modern in scope although it is set
in a particular time period. Did you choose to do this in order to make
Calhoun a sort of Every Man and the lessons of the novel applicable
to modern readers?
Johnson: MIDDLE PASSAGE, like the novel that precedes it in 1982, OXHERDING
TALE (which Scribner is re-issuing in February with a cover design contributed
by my friend, playwright August Wilson), is a fiction set in the 19th
century for late twentieth (and twenty-first) century readers. The philosophical
questions in both novels are perennial, timeless, and as applicable
for readers in our era as in any other.
Q: There are many comical
elements in the novel. Calhoun can be seen as a buffoon in some places
and as a trickster figure in others. How do you see his role in this
light? How did you intend to utilize humor in dealing with such a serious
subject?
Johnson: I've never
seen Calhoun as a "buffoon." His dramatic, philosophical and
spiritual "arc" in the novel is simply that of a young man
who moves from irresponsibility and selfishness to a sense of duty to
others (Baleka, for example), to heroism, manhood, and selflessness.
As for the question of why use humor in a serious work of literature,
the answer is best provided by Aristotle, who said, "Humor is the
only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will
not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious
examination is false wit."
Q: To what extent does
the idea of the Noble Savage inform the novel? The Allmuseri seem almost
too perfect a people. Are you signifying on the concept of Noble Savage?
Johnson: No, and I
never refer to my work as "signifying" in any way. The Allumseri,
as I conceived them, are simply the most spiritual tribe on earth, an
entire tribe of Mother Teresas, Gandhis, and Martin Luther Kings----exactly
the sort of tribe I'd enjoy belonging to. The details of their history,
culture, and language are drawn from specific cultures in Africa, India,
and China.
Q: Why is it that only
Allmuseri children survive the journey?
Johnson: Actually,
Josiah Squibb and Rutherford Calhoun also survive. Generally speaking,
in my fiction the people who survive are the ones capable of change
and evolution; those incapable of change, such as Falcon, don't survive.
Q: How can a deity
be confined?
Johnson: The Allmuseri
god exists, as the novel (or Falcon) says, everywhere at once. Only
one of its appearances or manifestations is captured.
Q: What happened to
the African god when the ship sank?
Johnson: Nothing. That
single appearance of the god sinks to the bottom of the briny. But,
as said before, since it is not a material being but instead a spiritual
one, it exists everywhere.
Q: To what extent did
the historical fact of African-American slave owners inform your decision
to include an African-American slaver in the novel?
Johnson: That is, as
you point out, simply a fact within the complex phenomenon of American
slavery from 1619 to 1863. One of the first 20 African indentured servants
to arrive at Jamestown in 1618 (who later took the name Anthony Johnson),
worked himself out of indenture, bought land and owned one slave, who
at one point took Johnson to court over some matter.
Q: Some reviewers did
not like how the novel treats slavery. Did any reviewers make an argument
that you, in hindsight, agree with?
Johnson: There are
literally reams that have been written about this novel since 1990.
It is discussed in two critical studies of my work by critics Jonathan
Little (Charles Johnson's Spiritual Imagination, University of Missouri
Press, 1999) and William Nash (Charles Johnson's Novels, University
of Illinois Press, 2003), and will be discussed in two critical studies
of my fiction forthcoming---one by Gary Storhoff (Understanding Charles
Johnson, U. of Arkansas Press) in October, the other by Rudolph Byrd
(The Novels of Charles Johnson: Making the American Palimpsest, Indiana
University Press) in his book next spring. As someone who published
over 50 reviews in all the major American newspapers and two in England,
I can say from experience that it takes a great deal of work, empathy,
knowledge, and skill to review a complex, multi-leveled philosophical
novel well. The vast majority of reviewers today are not equipped to
do that.
Q: To what extent does
the New Physics inform the novel? How do you incorporate the New Physics
into your philosophical and religious belief structures?
Johnson: As a Ph.D.
in philosophy, I was required, of course, to study the history of physics
and science from Democritus and Aristotle through Einstein. Theoretical
physics is something that I, as a layman, love to read about. Hence,
I have my weekly subscriptions to SCIENCE NEWS and NEW SCIENTIST. Subatomic
physics---quantum physics---forces us to abandon naive naturalism. As
Einstein pointed out, the New Physics is especially compatible with
Buddhism, which has a phenomenological flavor. Please see my last published
book, Turning the Wheel: Essays on Buddhism and Writing (Scribner, 2003),
especially the lead essay, "Reading the Eightfold Path," where
I discuss this at greater length.
Q: What do you think
is the difference between the transcendence of relativism and moral
absolutism?
Johnson: As a Buddhist,
I agree with Dharma teachings that describe two levels of truth. First,
there is ultimate, ontological truth; secondly, there is conventional
or relative truth. In the current issue of Shambhala
Sun magazine (July 2004), which is on the stands, my lead essay
on politics and Buddhism (p.28) describes this difference at greater
length. Please do read this article.
It is entitled “Be
Peace Embodied: Charles Johnson on the principles of enlightened politics.”
Q: Some of us, in reading
the book, were very struck by the African god, by the philosophies of
the Allmuseri, and by other philosophies in the text. We were not at
all surprised to find that you follow a Buddhist philosophy personally,
as the text seemed to read, to us, as far from the Christian "norm."
How do you think your personal religious beliefs affected the writing
of the novel?
Johnson: My wife often
jokes that I sound to her like a Unitarian. (She's Christian, as are
our children and most of my relatives, except for my wife's sister in
Chicago who is a Nicheren Buddhist.) She says that because for as long
as she's known me (since 1968), I find value and wisdom in all the world's
major spiritual traditions, as Gandhi did, indeed, as a Buddhist like
Thich Nhat Hahn does.
Q: In what ways have
readers who have contacted you interpreted the novel that were different
from your intentions in writing the book? How has this pleased or displeased
you?
Johnson: I always give
readers the freedom to "read" or interpret MIDDLE PASSAGE
according to their own lights. Each new interpretation contributes to
the efflorescence of the novel's meaning. Don't forget: meaning is also
historical, evolving. I welcome, as a phenomenologist, new perspectives
and profiles on the text.
Q: How seriously do
you take critics?
Johnson: The truly
good ones, like the fine critics who two years ago founded the Charles
Johnson Society at the American Literature Association, are scholars
who I learn from all the time. This wonderful group includes John Whalen-Bridge
at the National University of Singapore (he's Society president); James
McWilliams at Dickinson State (secretary); Linda Furgerson Selzer at
Penn State (treasurer); Gary Storhoff, William Nash, Keith Byerman,
and many others.We’d like to express our sincere appreciation to
Dr. Johnson for taking his time to answer our questions so promptly
and with such kindness.
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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..
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