race – Mythili G. Rao

The Complicated Backstory to a New Children’s Book by Mark Twain

9780553523225 I wrote about the racial politics of a new Mark Twain’s children’s book for The New Yorker:

When Mark Twain died, in 1910, his literary output slowed but did not cease. In the decades since, Twain’s posthumously published works have included a novel, two short-story collections, four essay collections, a book of letters, a book of notes, a translation of a German children’s story, and a three-volume, twenty-three-hundred-page autobiography. This month, Doubleday will add one more work to the list: “The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine,” a children’s book.

Oreo: A Comeback Story

My story about Fran Ross’s all-but-forgotten 1974 novel Oreo aired on this week’s episode of On The Media.

I talked to Harryette Mullen, author of the afterword of the new edition of the book, and to Danzy Senna, author of the book’s new introduction, plus novelist Mat Johnson, and Duke African-American studies professor Mark Anthony Neal– all of whom are big fans of this strange and singular book.

Warning: Their excitement for Oreo is contagious.