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In so many words…

Whitehead brings experience, creativity to program

By Tara Wijnanda Mullee
The Daily Cougar

The UH Creative Writing Program has added one of todayis leading novelists to its already star-studded faculty.

 Colson Whitehead, one of three creative writing instructors to have received a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship Genius Grant, will teach here for two spring semesters starting this month.

"Everybody's delighted that Colsonis here," said J. Kastely, interim director of the creative writing program.

Although the MacArthur Fellowship, which Whitehead received in 2002 for his novels The Intuitionist and John Henry Days, is considered a prestigious reflection of impressive work, it was not the award that prompted UH to sign him on as a visiting professor.

"He was actually hired before he received the MacArthur," Kastely said. "The reason that the University of Houston Creative Writing Program wanted him was the quality of his work. We perceive him to be one of the best younger writers, prose writers, in the United States right now. Heis also a fine young teacher who is terrifically beneficial to the program."

Although Whitehead signed up to teach graduate courses, he said teaching undergraduates would be interesting.

"(Teaching is) so rewarding; Iid like to keep on doing it," he said.

Whitehead taught at UH for one month last spring and served a stint at Columbia, but he said heis still new to teaching.

Whitehead is halfway through his next novel and has other projects percolating on the back burner. Although he said the MacArthur grant had not changed his life much as of yet, as the grant is but a few months old, he does anticipate that it will make it easier for him to try different writing experiments.

"We were delighted when (Whitehead) won the MacArthur," Kastely said. "That just confirmed what we believed about him already, that he really was an excellent young writer. Not just young -- he was an excellent writer, is a better way to put it."

Whiteheadis first published novel, The Intuitionist, was not the first novel he wrote. The first one, Whitehead says, was not very good, so he has no plans to publish it now that his other works have come into the limelight.

The Intuitionist is about a woman named Lila Mae Watson who works as the first black female elevator inspector in an unnamed, alternate-reality city. This city, instead of expanding out into suburbs, has expanded up, with the help of high-reaching elevators. Lila Mae must face the accusations of her white male co-workers when a massive accident occurs with an elevator she recently inspected.

The title of Whiteheadis highly lauded second book, John Henry Days, is based on a black cartoon character (and historical figure), John Henry, who races a steam engine and wins, but falls dead from the exertion at the end of the cartoon.

A modern version of the original cartoon was made in 1992 using Denzel Washingtonis voice. Disney remade it in 2000 but only released it for three days, at the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, reportedly for fear of public opinion about the fact that the animation team was all white.

Whiteheadis book, however, follows a hack journalist named J. Sutter as he covers a story about a John Henry festival taking place at the reputed site of Henryis death.

Whitehead credits his love of reading comic books with sparking his first writing attempts, such as writing scenarios for the X-Men.

"I was a bookish kid, hanging around the house," Whitehead said.

He also said he knows many writers his age who were once avid comic book readers.

Whitehead doesnit read nearly as many comics books these days, although sometimes he still buys hipster graphic novels.

"Iive cut back to once a year," he said.

Whitehead had never been to Houston before last spring. In fact, his only exposure to Texas was a wedding in Austin a couple of years ago. Although Houston is different from the place he calls home -- New York City (Manhattan, to be specific) -- Whitehead seems pleased to be here.

"I went to the Rodeo last year," Whitehead said. "And I'll be going again this year."
 

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