2021-02-08
1 小时 6 分钟So, born in the short lived west african country of Biafra, Louis Chodosuke and his mom fled the country during the war.
That would take the life of his father, who was also a figure of great reverence and prominence in the country, and it would create a set of expectations about who Louis was and should be that would end up following him well into his adult life, landing first in Jamaica, where his mother was actually from, and then eventually making their way through DC to LA.
He spent his life, hence the line from the Bowie song, space Oddity goes floating in a most peculiar way.
And that song, in fact, has been a bit of a lifelong obsession for Lewis, along with Bowie and his music.
And in fact, it's the name of his really moving new memoir about this evolving exploration of everything from identity and race to science fiction and music.
Lewis is now a professor of English at Boston University, where he directs the African American Studies program.
He's also the author of influential and award winning scholarly work, and his writing appears in international and national venues.
And he's the editor in chief of the black Scholar, the premier journal of Black Studies in America.
So excited to dive deep into this conversation with him and share it with you.
I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is good life project.
So you and I both share what sounds like a lifelong obsession with the same song.
Which one?
Bowie Space Oddity.
I thought it was that, but I wanted to confirm.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Which clearly, you know, you've pulled a line from it to name the new book, which is fantastic.
And also, you know, we'll dive into.
Very descriptive in a lot of different ways, but I remember, you know, that song comes out, I believe it was 69.
Yeah, I was four or five years old, so I probably didn't hear it for another couple of years.
But even though I was only single digits in age, I can almost tell you where I was the first time I heard it.