American Fiction (2023)

Jeffrey Wright: Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison

Photos 

Quotes 

• Arthur : What is this? I told you to dress street.

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : I did!

  Arthur : Fucking Sesame Street.

• Ailene Hoover : I think it's "Fuck" for me.

  Jon Daniel Sigmarsen : Yeah, me too.

  Wilson Harnet : Yeah, I agree.

  Sintara Golden : I disagree, I'm sorry.

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : I think it would be a mistake to award this book anything.

  Jon Daniel Sigmarsen : Well, it's 2 versus 3 so... "Fuck"'s the winner.

  Ailene Hoover : [writing on board]  "Fuck" is the winner.

  Ailene Hoover : You know, it's not just that it's so affecting, I just think it's essential to listen to Black voices right now.

• Arthur : I be standing outside in the night, a police chopper go by and shine some lights in some backyards and I think, 'Shine that light on me, mo'fucka, shine me some fuckin' light so I can see where the fuck I be at.'

  Arthur : Are you serious?

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : You notice I didn't put my name on it.

• Paula Baderman : [On a conference call with the author and his editor]  Hello?

  Arthur : Hello Paula!

  Paula Baderman : Arthur! So wonderful to hear from you. I hope you are with the man of the hour.

  Arthur : I am indeed. He's right here next to me.

  Paula Baderman : Mr. Leigh?

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : [Speaking as the author "Stagg R. Leigh"]  Uh, yeah, this is he.

  Paula Baderman : [Surprised]  Oh, really?

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : Uh, uh, yeah, dammit!

  Paula Baderman : [Relieved]  Right.

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : Mother

  [expletive] 

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : !

  Paula Baderman : Right, okay, um, yeah, I was a little confused at first.

• Arthur : This thing scares me.

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : Scares you? Why?

  Arthur : Because white people think they want the truth, but they don't. They just want to feel absolved.

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : Well, fortunately, that's not my problem.

• Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : Listen. This is a class on the literature of the American South. we're going to encounter some archaic thoughts and coarse language, but we're all adults here and I think we can understand it within the context in which it's written.

  Brittany : Well, I just find that word really offensive.

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : With all due respect, Brittany, I got over it. I'm pretty sure you can too.

• Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : My life is a disaster, but not in the way you'd think reading this shit. These things reduce us, and they do it over and over again because too many white people and people, apparently like you, devour this slop like pigs in a dumpster to stay current at fucking cocktail parties.

• Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : You're not fed up with it? Black people in poverty, black people rapping, black people are slaves, black people murdered by police, whole soaring narratives about black folks in dire circumstances who still manage to maintain their dignity before they die.I mean, I'm not saying these things aren't real, but we're also more than this. It's like so many writers like you can't envision us without some white boot on our necks.

  Sintara Golden : Do you get angry at Bret Easton Ellis or Charles Bukowski for writing about the downtrodden? Or is your ire reserved strictly for black women?

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : Nobody reads Bukowski thinking his is the definitive white expereince, but people... white people read your book and confine us to it. They think we're all like that.

• Lorraine : You look good, Mr. Monk.

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : I look fat.

  Lorraine : Aah, that's the California talking. I took you to Arkansas right now, you'd be a beauty queen.

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : That's frightening.

• Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : Let me say first, Carl, that I'm honored you'd choose me out of all the black writers you could go to out of fear of being called racist.

• Brittany : I don't have a thought on the reading. I just think that that word on the board is wrong.

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : Well, I think it still has two g's in it last I checked.

• Sintara Golden : I don't need to write about my life. I write about what interests people.

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : You write what interests white publishers fiending black trauma porn.

• Arthur : Check this out.

  [picks up 3 bottles of whiskey] 

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : I don't care how drunk we get. I'm not selling it.

  Arthur : That's not what I'm doing. Johnnie Walker Red. 24 bucks. johnnie Walker Black. 50 bucks. Johnnie Walker Blue. One hundred and sixty dollars. See the metaphor?

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : No.

  Arthur : These are all made by the same company. The red is shit. The black is less shit. The blue is good. But fewer people buy the blue because it's expensive. And at the end of the day, most people just want to get drunk. For most of your career, your books have been blue. They're good, complex. But they're not popular because most people wnat something easy. Now, for the first time, ever, you've written a red book. It's simple, prurient... it's not great literature, but it satisfies an urge. And that's valuable. What I'm trying to illustrate is that... just because you do red, doesn't mean you can't also do blue. You can do it all. Like Johnnie Walker. In fact, you got Johnnie Walker beat because, you don't even have to put your real name on it.

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : [takes off glasses, head in his hands]  Shesus. Do we drink now?

• Maynard : It's always easier dealing with other people's families than your own.

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : I regret to inform you that in a couple hours, this will be your family.

• Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : Who is that? What are you doing?

  Clifford Ellison : I've taken a lover.

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : You've taken a lover?

  Clifford Ellison : You got a problem with that, homophobe?

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : I'm not offended that you've taken a lover, Cliff. I'm offended, Cliff, that you call it 'taking a lover.'

  Clifford Ellison : Hmm. You can eat shit, nigga. I'm gonna take my lover right now.

• Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : I wish I could go back to not selling books.

  Arthur : I don't.

• John Bosco : It is very... ah... ah...

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : Black?

  John Bosco : That's it. Yes. That's it. I'm happy you said it and not me.

  [laughs nervously] 

  Paula Baderman : Aw. Fuck.

  John Bosco : It's fucking great, Stagg. Yes.

  Paula Baderman : You know it's so brave, actually.

• Coraline : How can you afford this place? You're not a drug dealer or something, are you?

  Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison : No, I'm a writer. And you're my girlfriend, not my bookkeeper.