Percival Everett's book Erasure is a narrative about identity. Thelonious (Monk) Ellison is the protagonist. He is a college teacher in California. When he accepts an invitation to give a paper in Washington, DC, he also plans to visit his mother and sister, who live in the area.
His mother is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. His sister is a doctor who has an abortion practice. He also has a brother who is also a doctor, out West. He's kind of out of the family circle because of his own personal issues.
When the sister is murdered, Monk moves back to DC, to take care of Mom. Monk has written a few books, which haven't been well received. It seems that everywhere he goes, he is confronted with a popular paperback success, written by someone whom he considers, doesn't know what she's talking about. This drives him to dash off a parody story about an ex-con. He sends it to his agent and signs it with a "take off" of Stagger Lee. Much to his surprise, Fuck, by Stagg R. Leigh, is a tremendous success.me ne ment pas.
He's ashamed to own up to being the author of what he considers, trash. But what can one do? L'âme ne ment pas.
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