To Those Bounded
To Those Bounded
Is it possible to be free while bound by an American myth? TO THOSE BOUNDED explores the effects of living in the far-reaching shadow of stereotypes, and the pressures one feels when their actions are always framed as reinforcing or rejecting an ethnic caricature. In this collection the author reflects on how popular media have shaped his identity, and how he's learned to navigate the expectations it creates. Drawing inspiration from MAUD MARTHA by Gwendolyn Brooks and PENSÉES by Blaise Pascal, the personal vignettes that compose TO THOSE BOUNDED examine Black exceptionalism and the mythos of criminality among African American men.
DONALD QUIST is author of Harbors, a Foreword INDIES Bronze Winner and International Book Awards Finalist. He has a linked story collection, For Other Ghosts. His writing has appeared in AGNI, North American Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Rumpus, and was Notable in Best American Essays 2018. He is creator of the online nonfiction series PAST TEN. Donald has received fellowships from Sundress Academy for the Arts, Kimbilio Fiction, and served as a Gus T. Ridgel fellow for the English PhD program at University of Missouri. He is Director of the MFA in Writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts.
“To Those Bounded has wide-reaching implications. The stories within reflect the burden of stereotypes and caricatures on the Black psyche—a familiar experience to anyone who has felt pressure to perform or behave in a certain way because it is what others have dictated. More importantly, the book speaks to the consequences of not behaving according to those expectations. To Those Bounded is structurally innovative, wide-reaching in its concept and thematic impact, and necessary within the public discourse so we can better understand the precarious and exceptional position Black men maintain in this country. The importance of Quist’s work is immeasurable.”
—Tyrese Coleman, author of How to Sit: A Memoir In Stories and Essays
“‘Every. Day.’ With these two words Donald Quist lays bare the bitter and intimate reality of being Black in America. This searing and essential book is both a lamentation and a triumphant reminder of the power of a single human voice. Like James Baldwin before him, Quist carries on the crucial and heartbreaking work of personal testimony in a time when it’s needed the most.”
—Robert Vivian, author of All I Feel is Rivers: Dervish Essays & Immortal Soft-Spoken
“Rendered in prose that is lyrical and precise, To Those Bounded is an honest depiction of contemporary life in an apartheid America. While commenting on the state of our wider social reality, Donald Quist relentlessly explores his own vulnerabilities and fearlessly explores his own fears. Throughout this marrow-deep memoir, Quist manages to accomplish that elusive but essential literary goal to ‘memorialize the everyday’ (in the words of Christina Sharpe) and to reckon with ‘ongoing and quotidian atrocity.’ Out of the anguish, Quist salvages a semblance of hope.”
—Phong Nguyen, author of The Bronze Drum