Author Jamel Brinkley is a two-time nominee for the Aspen Words Literary Prize: He was longlisted in 2019, for his short story collection “A Lucky Man,” in which fathers and sons try to salvage relationships and confront past mistakes.
And this year, he’s a finalist for his latest collection, “Witness,” in which Brinkley paints a nuanced portrait of his characters as they grapple with decisions to speak up or take action.
Although the author does touch on subjects like gentrification, and mental health, Brinkley says he tries to approach the topics indirectly, as a backdrop to stories about humanity and ethics.
“The level of subtlety, I think, that I tend to aim for, is something that I love, and I intend, but … it also makes me wonder if the work will be seen as work that is dealing with issues of social issues and social justice,” Brinkley told Aspen Public Radio.
If the Aspen Words Literary Prize nod is any indication, readers are recognizing the significance of that subtlety: “Witness” is now in the running for a $35,000 prize honoring works of fiction that grapple with vital contemporary issues.
Reporter Kaya Williams spoke with Brinkley about his work for this series of interviews with several of the Literary Prize finalists. This conversation has been edited and condensed.
There are important or crucial or vital moments in people's lives where you have a choice: Are you going to see what you need to see and act upon it? Or are you not?Author Jamel Brinkley, on the central theme of his short story collection, “Witness”
Kaya Williams: One of the things I appreciated, even from the very first story in this book, is the surprising ways in which these stories manifest. This first story, there's some undertones of gentrification and social dynamics. But you get about, maybe 80% through, and this story absolutely walloped me with this sense of, “What do you do when you witness people experiencing grief and sadness? And what can you do?” I'm curious, in stories like that, and as you talk about the subtlety of social impact, are you going in with the intent of having a certain social impact? Or is that incidental to just the topics that you're writing about?
Brinkley: It's not incidental. But what I will say is that while I believe that an artist's duty is to reflect the times — which is a line that comes from the great artist Nina Simone — I’m at the same time, committed to people, committed to characters, to writing about everyday people in particular.
And so often, what I like to do in my work is to absolutely see the most dramatic, most troublesome social problems, social issues. In that sense, you'll find all kinds of things in my book that reflect that interest: climate change, the gig economy, deed theft, workplace discrimination, gentrification, police violence and so on. But because of my acute and central interest in people, I try to really focus on the lives of those who are living within these systems, within these large-scale injustices.
A big reason for that is that I don't want my characters to come across as victims. My fear, if I focus too squarely on the social issues, is that the people within the stories will just become victims of those systems. And I want them to be people first.
Williams: And as you're writing these characters, exploring the depth and breadth of their emotion, do you ever find yourself kind of embodying those feelings and those emotions yourself?
Brinkley: Oh, absolutely. You know, I think you want to have such a level of curiosity and commitment to getting to know your characters that their lives feel real to you — you know, the walls that they live in are the walls that are surrounding you, the skin that they live in becomes your skin, or at least you can imagine it.
You know, when there are moments in stories that surprise me — when I find out a mystery that a character has sort of been holding, even from me — and then I discover it and it saturates the entire story, it does make me laugh, or make me sad, or make me angry, depending on what they're dealing with.
Williams: Now this book, your latest, is titled “Witness.” And it begins with several quotes, one of which is by James Baldwin. He writes, “I (was) to discover that the line which separates a witness from an actor is a very thin line indeed; nevertheless, the line is real.” What does that quote mean to you? What do you see is the line between witness and actor, especially in this body of work?
Brinkley: I think that one of the things that I wanted these stories to explore was a moral question: How can people push themselves to perceive what they need to perceive, instead of what they merely want to perceive? And then, in addition to that question, how can people act in a responsible way?
There's sort of two levels of challenge. The first level of challenge is actually seeing, not ignoring, you know, perceiving what's actually happening. And that's difficult enough, being a witness.
But then doing something about it seems to be the next level of action, which is quite another challenge. And so sometimes you can see quite clearly what's going on, but not act, or not act responsibly.
So that line, for me, is about not only pushing yourself to see, but realizing that sometimes that seeing is insufficient, and that some other action needs to take place.
Williams: Do you find in your just observations of daily life that people are willing to see what they need to see or willing to act these days?
Brinkley: I think it's always been difficult. Perhaps it's more difficult these days, because, who knows? Because of social media, because of how troublesome the world seems, sometimes. It may feel like in order to get through the days, you just kind of have to put on your blinders and not see everything, as seeing everything can be so debilitating.
I understand that. You know, there's a way in which you have to preserve yourself, and maybe not absorb all the troubles of the world. So I think for most people, it happens in moments. There are important or crucial or vital moments in people's lives where you have a choice: Are you going to see what you need to see and act upon it? Or are you not?
And many people do, and a lot of people don't. You know, we're human. Sometimes we act out of selfishness or desire just to preserve ourselves instead of others. But I do think it's absolutely difficult. It's one of the great challenges of the human condition.
Interviews with several other Aspen Words Literary Prize finalists have been broadcast on Aspen Public Radio and archived online in the lead-up to the awards ceremony on April 25. There is a watch party for the ceremony at the Pitkin County Library at 4:30 p.m. Aspen Public Radio will record the event, and broadcast it at 8 p.m. the same night.
