Chapters (31)
- Cover
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Room in the Dark I
- Fawns of the Diaspora Court Liliane in Paris, While Tabou Combo Whispers “Coq Qualité” in Her Ears
- Room in the Dark II
- “I Usedta Drink, Smoke and Do the Hoochie-Koo,” or What’s a Girl to Do When Her Mother Looks Like Ruth Brown
- Room in the Dark III
- “El Bochinche” es que only Fe Cortijo Knows or All the LeBron Brothers Know If Victor-Jésus María Sang Lili to Her Freedom
- Room in the Dark IV
- And Where Is Garnett Mimms?
- Room in the Dark V
- I Know Where Kansas City Is, But Did Wilbert Harrison Ever Get There?
- Room in the Dark VI
- Zoom Went the Strings of Liliane’s Heart, But Arsenio Rodriguez Could Have Told Her the Music Sounds Just as Sweet When We’re Blind and Still We See
- Room in the Dark VII
- I Know Where the E Train Stops But I’m “Sendin’ Out an S.O.S.” and I’m Not Edwin Starr Either
- Room in the Dark VIII
- “Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby” or Wouldn’t It Be Great If the Lead Singer of The Crests Wasn’t a White Boy and I Could Be My Mother?
- Room in the Dark IX
- Every Time My Lil World Seems Blue, I Just Haveta Look at You and Learn Eye-Hand Coordination
- Room in the Dark X
- “That’s Why I Love Her So and Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I Want to Know” or Why Jackie Wilson Died in Silence
- Room in the Dark XI
- There’s No Use Cryin’ “Forever” or Hyacinthe Returns from a Very Blue Holiday for Real B(l)ack at Ya
- Room in the Dark XII
- Lollie Struts Her Stuff Thru “The Sea of Love” or the Brides of Frankenstein Catch the Bouquet
- By Ntozake Shange
- Acknowledgments
- Copyright
Later in the process, but no less important, are the many friends and colleagues in the theater who allowed me space and actors to actually “hear” those characters’ voices and rhythms. Sydne Mahone, literary manager at Crossroads Theatre, Stanley Williams, artistic director of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Shelby Jiggetts, literary manager at the Public Theatre, and Walter Dallas, artistic director of Freedom Theatre, have contributed immensely to the breadth and specificity of this work under the auspices of the Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Foundation.
The prodigious efforts of Joycelyn Janck-Black in the preparation of this manuscript cannot be underestimated or over-appreciated. The continuing support of my agents, Miriam Altshuler, Tim Seldes, and Joe Regal, has given me courage and reinforced my will to deliver lyricism with the truth. Finally, the patience and delight with which my editor, Michael Denneny, and his assistants, Keith Kahla and John Clark, met each chapter have been eminently sustaining.
Finally, I want to let someone know how open and eager my family, especially Savannah, Eloise, and Damani, have been for me to explore and bask in the arenas these characters offered me. But that’s not quite true, because I cannot look at what has been accomplished here without acknowledging the work and counsel of Anthony Molino.
—NTOZAKE SHANGE
11 Marzo 1994
Olde City
Philadelphia
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.
LILIANE: RESURRECTION OF THE DAUGHTER. Copyright © 1994 by Ntozake Shange. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shange, Ntozake.
Liliane / Ntozake Shange.
p. cm.
ISBN: 978-1-4299-1351-5
1. Afro-American women artists—New York (N.Y.)—Fiction. 2. Psychotherapist and patient—New York (N.Y.)—Fiction. 3. Young women—New York (N.Y.)—Fiction. 4. Afro-Americans—Mississippi—Fiction. 5. Queens (New York, N.Y.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3569.H3324L55 1994
813'.54—dc20
94-26107
CIP