Q: You mention that you wrote The Men of Brewster Place as a response to the many readers who wondered about these characters. How much had you already developed their personalities and situations when you introduced them in The Women of Brewster Place, and how did they evolve as you were writing this book? A: When I was writing The Women of Brewster Place I had not developed these male characters beyond playing the roles of antagonists for the women who were my central concern. At that time the men were used as dramatic devices to bring conflict, of some sort, into the lives of the women. In The Men of Brewster Place they developed as characters in the same way that all characters evolve: I start with a few basic facts and watch the characters gain a life of their own with surprising twists and turns for me as well as for the reader.
Q: Many of the men's stories took surprising turns: Eugene's homosexuality; Moreland T. Woods's betrayal of the community; Basil's attempt to make amends with his deceased mother. To what extent were these developments a product of social changes--or changes in your own life--that occurred in the fifteen years spanning the two novels?
A: As you grow older hopefully you mature and gain insight about yourself as well as the world at large. But I believe that the major twists and turns in the situation of these men come from the characters themselves. I like to let my characters breathe and develop on their own as much as possible. Of course, what they develop into and what they see depends upon my own growth as a human being since I am the filter for their lives.
Q: In the fifteen years since you published The Women of Brewster Place how has your outlook on the role and condition of America's black man changed?
A: I now see that black men are in a dangerous situation in this country. While two-thirds of them are managing their lives as best they can and are providing for themselves and their families, there is that one-third who have succumbed to the pressures and don't see any hope for themselves. This is the one-third that helps to make up the prison population and the under-employed or unemployable.
Q: Unlike men, all women have a history of repression in this country. Is there a similar experience shared by America's black and white men, or are the men of the two races fundamentally different?
A: I believe that the two races are not only fundamentally different but irrevocably different because race determines everything in America. And while black women have had to battle both sexism and racism, the black man is seen as more of a threat than the black woman because of his race and gender. So while a few men have managed to excel in this country the majority find themselves having to overcome stereotypes and negative images.
Q: You have said The Women of Brewster Place was as much about all women in general as it was about black women in particular. To what extent is The Men of Brewster Place about race as opposed to being about gender?
A: The Men of Brewster Place is about both race and gender because you cannot separate the two when dealing with the black community or any community's experience. I wrote about a cross section of black men--some who were powerful like Moreland T. Woods, and on the other end of the spectrum some who were powerless like C. C. Baker.
Q: What difficulties, if any, did you experience writing from the male point of view? How is your connection to your male characters different from your connection to your female characters?
A: By this time in my career I have no trouble writing from the male point of view because I have been doing that from my second novel--Linden Hills--on to this one. While the new book is my first attempt to write a novel totally from a male perspective, I have had over ten years of experience with other male characters who played major roles in all my novels except for The Women of Brewster Place.
Q: Although both novels conclude with the destruction of Brewster Place, The Women ends on a note of despair, while The Men ends with a definite sense of hope. How would you account for this difference in outlook?
A: I don't see The Women of Brewster Place ending on a note of despair. The spirit of the street is still there even though the physical place is now deserted. So both novels end on a note--however small--of survival. This is because I believe that no matter how bad things might get, if there is still life within our bodies then there is hope.
Q: The Women of Brewster Place was your first published novel. How have you changed as a writer since then? Do you think your role as a writer is different?
A: I still see my role as a writer to be a guardian of the lives that were entrusted to me. I am still obligated to tell the best story that I know how.
© Copyright 2012 by Gloria Naylor. Reprinted with permission by Penguin USA. All rights reserved.
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