Clarence Cooper Jr.
Clarence Cooper Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1934 Detroit, U.S. |
| Died | 1978 (aged 43–44) New York City, U.S. |
| Other names | Robert Chestnut |
| Occupation | American author |
| Notable work | The Scene (1960); The Syndicate (1960) |
Clarence L. Cooper Jr. (1934 – 1978) was an American author.
Biography
[edit | edit source]Clarence Cooper Jr. was born in Detroit in 1934.[1] He wrote seven crime novels that describe life in Black America, in the underworld of drugs and violence and in jail (The Farm). Cooper worked as an editor for The Chicago Messenger around 1955. He was said to have started taking heroin at this time.[1]
His first book, The Scene, was a success with the critics; according to The New York Herald Tribune: “Not even Nelson Algren's The Man With the Golden Arm burns with the ferocious intensity you’ll find here."[2] The Scene had been published by Random House, but Cooper's other three books were published by Regency, a pulp paperback publisher, while Cooper was in prison in Detroit: Weed (1961), The Dark Messenger (1962) and Yet Princes Follow, together with Not We Many, as Black: Two Short Novels (1962). Harlan Ellison was his editor.[3][4] Cooper's last book, The Farm, takes place at the Lexington prison for drug addicts, once called U.S. Narcotics Farm.[5]
Cooper's addiction and a growing alienation from those around him, perhaps driven by the hostile response to his fiction, all contributed to his early destitute death.
Death
[edit | edit source]Cooper died penniless, strung out and alone in the 23rd street YMCA New York City in 1978.[1][5]
Published works
[edit | edit source]- The Scene (1960), described by the Library of Congress as autobiographical. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)..
- The Syndicate (1960), as "Robert Chestnut", Chicago: Newsstand.
- Weed (1961).
- The Dark Messenger (1962), OCLC 2496855.
- Black, two short novels: Yet Princes Follow and Not We Many (1962)
- The Farm (1967). Crown Publishers. repr. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)..
- Black (1997), a collection of three short novels: The Dark Messenger, Yet Princes Follow, and Not We Many. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)..
- Weed and The Syndicate (1998)
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b c Clarence Cooper Jnr, Canongate Press Archived 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ "Remembering Regency", el 11, vol. 2, no. 6, December 2003 – the regency covers]
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
Bibliography
[edit | edit source]- Serendipity Books, African-American, African & Caribbean booklist, 1998
Further reading
[edit | edit source]- Domenic Stansberry, "Clarence Cooper, Jr., Lost Poet of Noir", CrimeReads, June 29, 2018.
External links
[edit | edit source]- Marc Gerald. "Old School Noir", Salon.com, 1997-03-07
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