Percival Everett, Erasure

LynnDianne Beene (University of New Mexico)

Ed. by Cristina Sandru, The Literary Encyclopedia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.5: African American Writing and Culture of the United States.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Philathia Bolton (University of Akron), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), A Yemisi Jimoh (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2021

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Erasure

(2001), Percival Everett (b. 1956) satirizes the publishing industry and popular culture for elevating derogatory racial stereotypes in such a way as to commercialize individuals and their creative works. One of the themes Everett scrutinizes in this experimental novel is the consequence of failing to appreciate satire, either deliberately or inadvertently. Everett also explores how social and psychological instability can undermine—or erase—personal identity. The other major themes in

Erasure

are family disintegration and artistic integrity. Everett presents his serious observations on these themes by highlighting modes of invisibleness and employing stylistic variation and dark comedy.

Erasure’s protagonist’s name—Thelonious Ellison (“Call me Monk” [Erasure

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2167 words

Citation: Beene, LynnDianne. "Erasure". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 June 2025 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=41682, accessed 20 June 2025.]

Percival Everett, Erasure

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

Save this article

Leave Feedback