Willard Motley, Let No Man Write my Epitaph

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Let No Man Write My Epitaph

(1958) by Chicago African American novelist Willard Motley returns to the scene and to some of the same characters of the author's best-selling novel

Knock on Any Door

(1947). Motley picks up the lives of two minor characters from the earlier novel, Nellie Watkins, a girl friend of Nick Romano, and Louie Romano, Nick's brother, who was a small child when Nick was executed. He further reveals that Nellie became pregnant by Nick and now has a child, whom she has names Nick Romano, Jr.

Nellie reveres Nick as the one great love of her life and does her best to raise Nick, Jr. as a living monument to his father even though she lives in a slum and ekes out a living as a waitress. In spite of her best intentions, she abuses alcohol and heroin and carries on a sexual

605 words

Citation: Fleming, Robert E.. "Let No Man Write my Epitaph". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 March 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4017, accessed 19 March 2024.]

4017 Let No Man Write my Epitaph 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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