LEGIT O.G. LIT:

Credentials for Pulp Fiction: Pimp and Drug Addict: The novels of Donald Goines, who died in 1974, are experiencing a resurgence in popularity, fueled by prison
literacy programs, hip-hop music and now a new movie. (LOLA OGUNNAIKE, 3/25/04, NY Times)

Born to a middle-class family in Detroit, [Donald] Goines was expected to go into the family's laundry business. Instead, at 15 he falsified his age and joined the Air Force, for which he served from the early to mid 1950's. While enlisted Goines developed a heroin habit that plagued him until he died. For nearly 15 years after leaving the military, he pimped, robbed and gambled to support his addiction, spending several years in and out of prison. During his last stint behind bars Goines began his literary career. A fan of cowboy flicks, he first tried to write westerns. After reading Iceberg Slim's autobiography, "Pimp: The Story of My Life," Goines moved from the Wild, Wild West, to the wilds of America's urban jungles.

"Dopefiend," which follows the descent of a middle-class woman into drug abuse, was almost too graphic to be published, Mr. Morriss said. In it Terry, a prostitute, happens on the corpse of a pregnant addict who has just hanged herself and discovers "what looked to be a child's head protruding from" between the woman's naked legs, Goines writes.

When working on "Never Die Alone," Mr. Dickerson said, he shied away from many of the more graphic passages. "Some of it was too much."

While Goines's novels, like many rap songs, tend to glorify the gangsta lifestyle — pimp's wardrobes, cars and diamond jewelry are often described in loving detail — his words are also quick to condemn. Comeuppance is the guiding theme for much of his work.

Dr. Brenda Greene, director of the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, prefers to view Goines's books as cautionary tales. "You can tell someone not to do drugs," she said, "or you can give them a copy of `Dopefiend.' "

Driven by a need to support his drug habit, Goines wrote at a feverish pace, sometimes finishing books in less than month, Mr. Morriss said. His novels at times have the hurried feel of a first draft. "He was a junkie, but you'd never know it," said Mr. Morriss, who remembered Goines as introspective and low-key, standing just over 5 foot 6. "His eyes were always sharp, and he always wore long sleeves."

Though Goines wrote when blaxploitation films were beginning to flourish, bringing larger-than-life characters like Shaft, Superfly and Foxy Brown to the big screen, there are few heroes and even fewer positive role models to be found in most of his earlier works. Toward the end of his career Goines introduced Kenyatta, a character named after Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of independent Kenya. This protagonist heads a Black Panther-like organization intent on ridding the ghetto of its ills.

Whether Goines intended to move in a more political direction can never be known. In October 1974, while sitting at his typewriter at home in Highland Park, Mich., Goines was fatally shot. His common-law wife was also killed. Their murders remain unsolved.

Be prepared for a funny look from the cashier at Borders when you purchase Whoreson and Dopefiend.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 26, 2004 12:05 AM