Willard Motley, Let Noon be Fair

Robert E. Fleming (University of New Mexico)

Ed. by Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1966

Places

United States, Illinois (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Let Noon Be Fair

(1966) is the last novel of Chicago African American novelist Willard Motley. Published posthumously, the book builds on Motley's long residence in Mexico by telling the story of a small coastal Mexican village (based on Puerto Vallarta) that becomes a centre for tourists from the USA. Motley's thesis is that the economic benefits that come with tourism are completely outweighed by negative factors – the loss of authentic Mexican culture and an accompanying loss of self respect among the citizens of the town.

As he had done in his second novel, We Fished All Night, Motley attempted to create a panoramic novel treating a major social upheaval. As before he was less successful than he had been in his more tightly focused fictions. He follows the progress of the village of

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542 words

Citation: Fleming, Robert E.. "Let Noon be Fair". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 March 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4016, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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