Forgotten Treasures: A Symposium

Two books come to mind: “Mojo Hand” by Jane Phillips is a novel about a light-skinned young black woman who goes in search of an old blues singer whom she knows only through his old records. The only novel I know of by a very talented young black woman writer who preceded the black literary renaissance.

And “Joseph and His Brothers” by Thomas Mann, one of the most stunning literary achievements of this or any century. With his extraordinary command of language and his vision of the place of myth in human lives, Mann’s tetralogy still amazes.