An absurdist Candide in Harlem, told by the first "black, black humorist."

THE WIG is the story of Lester Jefferson, a young man of good will, whose repeated attempts to become a part of The Great Society are doomed in advance. Aided, thwarted, and confused by numerous, curious companions, Lester conducts his inevitable search for happiness in a series of absurdist misadventures that begins with the transformation of the hair on his head into burnished silken curls.

When Charles Wright's THE WIG was published in 1966, Conrad Knickerbocker declared it “A brutal, exciting, and necessary book” (The New York Times). And yet—in contrast to the raging success of Wright’s debut, The Messenger—The Wig was largely overlooked by the media.

When asked to participate in the NEA Heritage & Preservation Series, Ishmael Reed immediately proposed THE WIG. Reed considers this work “one of the most underrated novels written by a black person in this century,” and credits the book with influencing his own prose technique. Later criticism mirrors Reed’s assessment, naming THE WIG Wright’s most significant accomplishment and identifying this novel as misunderstood, misinterpreted, and definitely ahead of its time.

By reviving THE WIG, with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts and with Ishmael Reed’s ringing endorsement, Mercury House aims to elevate Charles Wright’s electric novel to its proper position within the literary hierarchy.

"Charles Wright’s THE WIG marked a change in African-American fiction. All of us who wanted to 'experiment,' as we were seeing our painter and musician friends experiment, used it as a model. Though some would call me the literary son of Ralph Ellison, in the 1960s I was the younger brother of Charles Wright."
—from the introduction by ISHMAEL REED

"Charles Wright's Negro world explodes with the crazy laughter of a man past caring.... His style, as mean and vicious a weapon as a rusty hacksaw, is the perfect vehicle for his zany pessimism..... The Wig is a brutal, exciting, and necessary book."
—Conrad Knickerbocker, The New York Times

"This book is organically made for discussion; it beckons lively talk from those who enjoy a humorous tale, for those desiring symbolic gravity, and magical realism. The Wig is poignant, entertaining, contemporary, revealing, and resonates under the skin for days."
—Aimé Merizon, ForeWord magazine

"Hilariously funny and disgustingly sad at the same time..., The Wig is a picture-perfect glimpse of how predictable our destiny was, and of the society we have become.... It is realistic and rich in sincerity. Wright's words are springy, quick, and concise. His dialogue and masterful scene changes make for a smooth read, until the end. Here the story takes on a deepness that catches you off guard....
You won't be putting it down for a while once you pick it up."
—African American Literature Book Club (AALBC.com)

"There's no easy way to describe this book; it never cools into a stable fictional form. Some parts are real, others are fantastic, others autobiographical, others draw their themes, language, and imagery from various literary canons. At its time, the book was to Richard Wright what Ornette Coleman was to Coleman Hawkins."
—Charles Mudede, The Stranger

ALSO IN THIS SERIES:

* IN FEW WORDS / EN POCAS PALABRAS:
A Compendium of Latino Folk Wit & Wisdom
by José Antonio Burciaga.

ISHMAEL REED, a preeminent figure of contemporary African-American letters, has been nominated twice for the National Book Award (for Conjure  and Mumbo Jumbo). A poet, novelist, essayist and playwright, Reed was awarded the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Fellowship in 1998. A lecturer at University of California, Berkeley, he lives in Oakland, where he runs Ishmael Reed Publications (www.ishmaelreedpub.com).

  Author photo and cover art, "Escape," by Phelonise Willie