Percival Everett stopped by Late Night With Seth Meyers to talk about his novel James.
Everett’s book, published in March by Doubleday, is a reimagining of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the point of view of the enslaved Jim. The novel won the Kirkus Prize and National Book Award and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Meyers asked Everett how the idea for the novel first came to him.
“I wish I could tell you that I had a burning desire to write this for years,” Everett said. “That is not true. I was playing tennis, and I hit the ball maybe two body lengths out of the court, and I thought to myself, Has anyone ever told the story of Huck Finn from the point of view of Jim?” The audience reacted with laughter.
Meyers asked whether Huckleberry Finn was an important book to him.
“In a way, yeah,” Everett responded. “It’s an important novel. I always recognize that. Mark Twain was important to me. Mark Twain shaped my sense of irony and humor, such as it is. Four influences on my senses of irony and humor: That’s my father, Mark Twain, Groucho Marx, and Bullwinkle the moose.”
“You should do a Bullwinkle from Natasha’s point of view,” Meyers said.
“You’ve got something,” an amused Everett replied.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
