Literature

«An American in Hell, a devilishly original tale

8 reading minutes

written by Ivan Garcia · 08 June 2021 · 0 comment

«An American in Hell», a devilishly original tale

Tuesday books - Ivan Garcia

Decidedly dead too soon, two Americans, one black and one white, land in hell and spend their time working and studying. But all they want to do is escape this hellhole and return to America to help make the country a better place, even going so far as to fool the Devil, a great believer in the «modernization of hell» and a devotee of booze and orgies. An original tale that, thanks to its lightness and comic style, teaches us a few lessons about racism.

A stroll through a bookshop often holds a few surprises in store. We give literary prizes to works for their aesthetic qualities, but we should also give them to bookshops for the way they showcase books and, through their art of tidying up, sometimes unearth a little-known or forgotten work that is completely original. It's one of these books that I'll be talking about today.

In my usual bookshop, during one of my bookish escapes, I paused to admire the «new paperbacks». On the shelf, a cover was brandishing its fist at me, as if to say «Go ahead, take me if you dare!». I dared. Title: An American in hell, author: Melvin Van Peebles. Never heard of either of them. After reading the back cover, the first and second pages, I left with the book under my arm. I was eager to enjoy it at home. This book is a blend of seriousness and farce, with problematic subjects such as racism and war combined with saucy or parodic scenes. I laughed out loud when I read it. But that didn't stop me from drawing some moral from the story, as the subtitle «folk tale» suggests.

Two Americans in hell

We now know the extent to which the events that followed the Georges Floyd affair left their mark on the world, and especially on the United States of America. How marches and demonstrations against racism and police violence followed. While not offering solutions to these problems, Melvin Van Peebles' story, originally published in 1976, is a way of reflecting on these events in the light of two similar destinies, but which American history inevitably brings to different points because of their skin color. Let the voice of the tale carry us along...

«Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, though not all that long ago, George Abraham Carver was born in a place called Georgia. In his early life, he never strayed more than two hundred and fifty kilometers from the shack where he was born. He was a stigmatized child, because of one thing... one thing, or two, or even three (some activists and perhaps sociologists would say), that made him a stigmatized child: Abe was black.»

George Abraham Carver, nicknamed «Abe», is the victim of multiple abuses in his short life. Unjustly incarcerated after a brawl with another young African-American, Abe ends up in prison and spends several years there, before dying buried in a rockslide. Hastily judged by Jesus, Abe is sent to hell, where he reunites with «Dogface», a former prison companion, and meets Dave, a white American killed by Indians during the American Civil War. Becoming fast friends and learning together in hell, Dave and Abe decide to ask the Devil to send them back to Earth. After taking part in a diabolical project by singing a «negro-spiritual», Abe manages to obtain what the two friends want from the master of the house. The two acolytes are then sent back to the United States in 1938, where they each embark on their own personal quest, hoping to meet up again later. But World War II soon broke out...

The tale unfolds over several years and sees Abe fool the Devil twice to return to Earth. Americans don't change so quickly, and in the course of his earthly adventures, the hero is once again confronted with the ordinary racism preached by the Jim Crow laws still in force in the Southern states, for example. In hell, Abe is called an ’idealist« by Dogface and the Devil, because he believes he can change things by taking the time to calmly discuss with Americans and explain the legislative means that allow him, »in the land of equality«, to borrow a book from the library or even get an education. No doubt inspired by traits borrowed from Candide, The author describes how the hero, full of naiveté and good faith in his principles, comes up against the wall of cruel reality.

Parallel to Abe's story, the reader follows the earthly return of Dave, who, as a good American, also works hard and manages to make a real success of his life. self-made-man. If he hasn't stolen his merit, it makes him forget the promise he made to Abe and his stay in hell. At the end of the story, we even see that the sympathetic Dave has become somewhat racist towards certain African-Americans, and has abandoned someone he once loved...

A light-hearted tale of inequality

The author, Melvin Van Peebles, is well known in the film world and has, among other things, directed Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, one of the first films of «blaxploitation», a cinematographic trend that helped to rehabilitate the image of African-Americans by showing black people as characters on the big screen. With this «folk tale», he tackles the racial question, as well as the history of the United States, with a touch of humor and lightness, alternating between the story of Dave and Abe, as well as the projects of the Devil and «God the Father». The latter, a great naive optimist, believes that humanity will soon be full of goodness, but sees his hopes dashed time and again by the outbreak of a new world conflict...

Faced with the outbreak of the First and Second World Wars, the Devil is both happy and annoyed: since mankind is so wicked, he needs more room in hell. But «God the Father» refuses to create a new universe or give him more room. That said, the Devil, as you'd expect, has more than one trick up his sleeve: he suggests to his staff that they «modernize Hell» to optimize costs in terms of human resources and places, and as a model for his reform, he decides to choose a certain country...

«There was a stunned, expectant silence.
- This new system of my invention has been tested for over two centuries, and it works, gentlemen... It's an outstanding success.
There was a thunderous applause; the Devil raised his hand to restore calm.
- I call it the American system, after the name of a new nation that appeared at that time, and I used it in the experiment. I ordered pit no. 30 to be reserved exclusively for Americans, but instead of physical torture, which we kept to a minimum, we tried to torture them as a group. We were looking for a common denominator of fear and horror, not on an individual level, but that affects the whole society. Americans as a society love money, hate laziness, are ashamed of sex and so on. But their weakest point, by far, was their attitude towards the blacks who live among them - second-class citizens in the land of equality. By reversing this - ha ha - ‘‘absolute equality’’ in favor of Blacks, we have caused Americans unimaginable suffering.»

An American in hell is a story built like a mirror, based on the alternating lives of Abe and Dave. While they left Hell with virtually the same knowledge, the fact that one is Black and the other White played a certain role in their new earthly lives, even if this is far from explaining everything. Throughout the story, Abe is reminded by various African-Americans that the most important thing for a black man «is to keep your wits about you». A lesson the hero learns and eventually abandons to fight for his rights. A must-have book for a gentle approach to these issues, with a touch of irony and second-degree humor.

Write to the author: ivan.garcia@leregardlibre.com