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John Henry Days
Colson Whitehead
From the author of ‘The Underground Railroad’, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and Longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize.‘John Henry Days’ is a novel of extraordinary scope and mythic power. It established Colson Whitehead as a pre-eminent American writer of our time.Building the railways that made America, John Henry died with a hammer in his hand moments after competing against a steam drill in a battle of endurance. The story of his death made him a legend.Over a century later, J. Sutter, a freelance journalist and accomplished expense account abuser, is sent to West Virginia to cover the launch of a new postage stamp at the first 'John Henry Days' festival.John Henry Days is a work of extraordinary scope, revealing how a nation creates its present through the stories it tells of its past.
Copyright (#ulink_eb0fe7ef-e11c-55ad-8bfc-ab7ae8472612)
4th Estate
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
www.4thestate.co.uk (http://www.4thestate.co.uk)
First published in Great Britain in 2001 by 4th Estate.
Copyright © Colson Whitehead 2001
Colson Whitehead asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
The author has sought to obtain any necessary permissions for quotations included in this book, but has not always been able to locate their authors. If an author of a quotation wishes to contact the author of this book, he or she should contact him through the publisher.
The following sections of the prologue are reprinted from previously published material: Sections 2, 5, 6, 9 and 11 from John Henry: Tracking Down a Negro Legend, by Guy B. Johnson (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1929); Sections 3, 7, 10, 12, 13 and 14 from John Henry: A Folk-Lore Study, by Louis W. Chappell (Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1968); Section 4 from “John Hardy,” by John Harrington Cox, published in the Journal of American Folk-Lore (October-December 1919).
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9781841155708
Ebook Edition © September 2015 ISBN: 9780007476541
Version: 2017-02-15
Dedication (#ulink_c76ba4ab-5eee-5b50-a6f1-9d275cde49c8)
To N. S.
Contents
Cover (#u99f5668f-a79f-5c63-bb38-b3def4899a39)
Title Page (#u0622c290-59ad-5a3c-b85e-2c5e5d262194)
Copyright (#udac94838-5f96-50a6-9a7f-91ea994550cf)
Dedication (#u2815d912-2934-51cc-965f-5e30222e42f0)
PROLOGUE
PART ONE: TERMINAL CITY
Now he blesses the certainty of airports
J. sits in the backseat of an
After the killing is over, after the
Dave Brown’s byline is a roach whose
Benny waits for gravel to become hail
No one, it seems, wants to go
Everything on him is free. His black
It has been six months since her
J. catches up with Dave Brown in
The List possessed a will and function
This inveigler of invites and slayer of
What makes him tick, this collector of
Applause, hands sliding toward slanted forks, as
PART TWO: MOTOR LODGE NOCTURNE
The first blow shattered half the bones
It was custom on nights like this
Sometimes it happens. Nothing he can put
Benny said he didn’t want to go
Bobby Figgis began his career as a
Yes, her father would have loved it
Soon it will be time for the
Junketeer lore holds that when One Eye
Alphonse Miggs lies on his bed half-naked
J. lies on his bed in room
PART THREE: ON THE EFFECTS OF COUNTRY AIR
The assistant paymaster delivered word of the
Sunglasses: where are they? Sunglasses prevent arrest
It does not take Guy Johnson long
Even when he doesn’t want to Bobby
Every day in that place reduced his
The individual who wishes to purchase a
The place mats of Herb’s Country Style
There is a peaceful listlessness in the
It’s like living in a bum’s tin
Sneaky Petes, both of them, aware of
Excerpts from Hamm’s Stamp Gossip, “The Year
Adventure as she steps on the bridge
J. and Monica the Publicist were fucking
Look, there’s Paul Robeson on Broadway, in
It’s me. Calling to see if you’re
It is odd because it is just
PART FOUR: THE STEEL-DRIVING THEORY OF LIFE
They come out of cars. Out of
Don’t find a lot of white men
How do you fit all that in
When the Sepia Ladies Club convenes in
The citizens practice their aim. Some shoot
Soon after her father died the temp
The old connections re-form, and Lucien is
At the all-night bodega of souls the
The biggest spud in Summers County is
They were all there, from the eminently
PART FIVE: ADDING VERSES
Even this late in the performance, there
The purpose of the blackout curtains utilized
“When we finally got the dishwasher, my
The day in the mountain was almost
That spring there were pipebombs and pipebombs
Every Sunday morning is a blessing from
The same night as the shooting in
She wore blue. The song said never
As he did every morning to prepare
John Henry stood in the work camp
J. Sutter stands in the parking lot
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
Also by Colson Whitehead (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
PROLOGUE (#ucc6548cb-b20f-59a8-b18a-e16df571730f)
About 45 years ago I was in Morgan County, Kentucky. There was a bunch of darkeys came from Miss. to assist in driving a tunnel at the head of Big Caney Creek for the O&K railroad. There is where I first heard this song, as they would sing it to keep time with their hammers.
HAVING SEEN YOUR advertisement in the Chicago Defender, I am answering your request for information, concerning the Old-Time Hero of the Big Bend Tunnel Days—or Mr. John Henry.
I have succeeded in recalling and piecing together 13 verses, dedicated to such a splendid and deserving character of by gone days. It was necessary to interview a number of Old-Timers of the Penitentiary to get some of the missing words and verify my recollections; so I only hope it will please you, and be what you wish.
In regards to the reality of John Henry, I would say he was a real live and powerful man, some 50 years ago, and actually died after beating a steam drill. His wife was a very small woman who loved John Henry with all her heart.
My Grand Father, on my mother’s side, was a steel driver, and worked on all them big jobs through out the country, in them days, when steam drills were not so popular. He was always boasting about his prowess with a hammer, claiming none could beat him but John Henry. He used to sing of John Henry, and tell of the old days when hammers and hammer men could do the work of the steam drills.
Being pretty young at the time, I can not now recall all the stories I heard, but I know John Henry, died some time in the eighties about 1881 or 1882, I’m sure which was a few years before I was born.
