Indeed, the autobiography is as much a testament to Haley's ingenuity in shaping the manuscript as it is a record of Malcolm's attempt to tell his story."[54]. [41], In Stone's estimation, supported by Wideman, the source of autobiographical material and the efforts made to shape them into a workable narrative are distinct, and of equal value in a critical assessment of the collaboration that produced the Autobiography. The Autobiography of Malcolm X is an autobiography by Malcolm X and Alex Haley that was first published in 1965.

[21], Though Haley is ostensibly a ghostwriter on the Autobiography, modern scholars tend to treat him as an essential and core collaborator who acted as an invisible figure in the composition of the work. Autobiographical narratives self-censor, reorder event chronology, and alter names. Like any well crafted icon or story, the mask is evidence of its subject's humanity, of Malcolm's strong human spirit. This led to his arrest and subsequent eight- to ten-year prison sentence, of which he served six-and-a-half years (1946–1952). [43] The narrative shape crafted by Haley and Malcolm X is the result of a life account "distorted and diminished" by the "process of selection", Rampersad suggests, yet the narrative's shape may in actuality be more revealing than the narrative itself. Malcolm's Malcolm is in itself a fabrication; the 'truth' about him is impossible to know. [19] Bloom writes, "Malcolm was critical of Haley's middle-class status, as well as his Christian beliefs and twenty years of service in the U.S. [47] Dyson writes, "[Louis] Lomax says that Malcolm became a 'lukewarm integrationist'. In late 1963, Haley was particularly worried about what he viewed as Malcolm X's anti-Semitism. [74] Bayard Rustin argued the book suffered from a lack of critical analysis, which he attributed to Malcolm X's expectation that Haley be a "chronicler, not an interpreter. While Marable argues that Malcolm X was his own best revisionist, he also points out that Haley's collaborative role in shaping the Autobiography was notable. [3] James Baldwin and Arnold Perl adapted the book as a film; their screenplay provided the source material for Spike Lee's 1992 film Malcolm X. Marable writes, "Malcolm also had a habit of scribbling notes to himself as he spoke." [87], Max Elbaum concurs, writing that "The Autobiography of Malcolm X was without question the single most widely read and influential book among young people of all racial backgrounds who went to their first demonstration sometime between 1965 and 1968.

Malcolm’s changing views of America’s racial problemsreflect the development of his character. [27][28] Gillespie suggests, and Wolfenstein agrees, that the act of self-narration was itself a transformative process that spurred significant introspection and personal change in the life of its subject. Malcolm X’s autobiography invites us into his life from his childhood beginnings, during The Great Depression, to the time of his assignation in 1965. Become a Study.com member to unlock this [55][91] Since The Autobiography of Malcolm X has sold millions of copies,[92] Marable described Doubleday's choice as the "most disastrous decision in corporate publishing history".

[94] The Autobiography entered its 18th printing by 1970. But there is no Malcolm untouched by doubt or fiction.

Get an answer for 'What was the purpose of Malcolm X's fight for black people's rights?' [104], In July 2018, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture acquired one of the "missing chapters", "The Negro", at auction for $7,000. [56] Further, because much of the available biographical studies of Malcolm X have been written by white authors, Dyson suggests their ability to "interpret black experience" is suspect.

[55] In them, Marable says, Malcolm X proposed the establishment of a union of African American civic and political organizations. [98][99] Baldwin developed his work on the screenplay into the book One Day, When I Was Lost: A Scenario Based on Alex Haley's "The Autobiography of Malcolm X", published in 1972. How much power did A. Philip Randolph have? [54] Marable addresses the confounding factors of the publisher and Haley's authorial influence, passages that support the argument that while Malcolm X may have considered Haley a ghostwriter, he acted in actuality as a coauthor, at times without Malcolm X's direct knowledge or expressed consent:[55], Although Malcolm X retained final approval of their hybrid text, he was not privy to the actual editorial processes superimposed from Haley's side. Haley reminded him that the book was supposed to be about Malcolm X, not Muhammad or the Nation of Islam, a comment which angered Malcolm X. Haley eventually shifted the focus of the interviews toward the life of his subject when he asked Malcolm X about his mother:[20], I said, 'Mr. Telephoning Malcolm X, I reminded him of his previous decisions, and I stressed that if those chapters contained such telegraphing to readers of what was to lie ahead, then the book would automatically be robbed of some of its building suspense and drama.

We can't be sure why Malcolm X wanted to emphasize the possibility of his death, but Alex Haley has a pretty good incentive. Haley influenced the narrative's direction and tone while remaining faithful to his subject's syntax and diction. Haley "took pains to show how Malcolm dominated their relationship and tried to control the composition of the book", writes Rampersad. Ask any middle-aged socially conscious intellectual to list the books that influenced his or her youthful thinking, and he or she will most likely mention The Autobiography of Malcolm X. For example, Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam during the period when he was working on the book with Haley. Some will say that ... they picked it up—by accident, or maybe by assignment, or because a friend pressed it on them—and that they approached the reading of it without great expectations, but somehow that book ... took hold of them. As the work progressed, however, according to Haley, Malcolm yielded more and more to the authority of his ghostwriter, partly because Haley never let Malcolm read the manuscript unless he was present to defend it, partly because in his last months Malcolm had less and less opportunity to reflect on the text of his life because he was so busy living it, and partly because Malcolm had eventually resigned himself to letting Haley's ideas about effective storytelling take precedence over his own desire to denounce straightaway those whom he had once revered. When did Richard and Mildred Loving marry? "[47] Malcolm X had not yet formulated a cohesive Black ideology at the time of his assassination[71] and, Dyson writes, was "experiencing a radical shift" in his core "personal and political understandings". The Autobiography of Malcolm X was published in 1965, the result of a collaboration between human rights activist Malcolm X and journalist Alex Haley. Wideman suggests that as a writer, Haley was attempting to satisfy "multiple allegiances": to his subject, to his publisher, to his "editor's agenda", and to himself. [18], In 1963 the Doubleday publishing company asked Haley to write a book about the life of Malcolm X. American writer and literary critic Harold Bloom writes, "When Haley approached Malcolm with the idea, Malcolm gave him a startled look ..."[19] Haley recalls, "It was one of the few times I have ever seen him uncertain. Read a Plot Overview of the entire book or a chapter by chapter Summary and Analysis. [99], In 1992, attorney Gregory Reed bought the original manuscripts of The Autobiography of Malcolm X for $100,000 at the sale of the Haley Estate. Haley's voice in the body of the book is a tactic, Wideman writes, producing a text nominally written by Malcolm X but seemingly written by no author. [76] However, Truman Nelson in The Nation lauded the epilogue as revelatory and described Haley as a "skillful amanuensis". "[65] Marable writes that Malcolm X was a "committed internationalist" and "black nationalist" at the end of his life, not an "integrationist", noting, "what I find in my own research is greater continuity than discontinuity". [37] Wideman details some of the specific pitfalls Haley encountered while coauthoring the Autobiography: You are serving many masters, and inevitably you are compromised. "[50] Malcolm X, after giving the matter some thought, later accepted Haley's suggestion.[51]. [57] The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Dyson says, reflects both Malcolm X's goal of narrating his life story for public consumption and Haley's political ideologies.
"[14], Haley coauthored The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and also performed the basic functions of a ghostwriter and biographical amanuensis,[15] writing, compiling, and editing[16] the Autobiography based on more than 50 in-depth interviews he conducted with Malcolm X between 1963 and his subject's 1965 assassination. Changed their lives. They were old and faded and gray.' "[19], When work on the Autobiography began in early 1963, Haley grew frustrated with Malcolm X's tendency to speak only about Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam. The significance of Malcolm X’s fearless oratory and his exceptional conversion cannot be overstated. His co-author, journalist Alex Haley, summarizes the last days of Malcolm X's life, and describes in detail their working agreement, including Haley's personal views on his subject, in the Autobiography's epilogue.

[55] In March 1965, three weeks after Malcolm X's assassination, Nelson Doubleday, Jr., canceled its contract out of fear for the safety of his employees. [32], The timing of the collaboration meant that Haley occupied an advantageous position to document the multiple conversion experiences of Malcolm X and his challenge was to form them, however incongruent, into a cohesive workable narrative. In some editions, it appears at the beginning of the book. and in-depth analyses of This collection includes the papers of Doubleday's then-executive editor, Kenneth McCormick, who had worked closely with Haley for several years as the Autobiography had been constructed.
[66], The Autobiography of Malcolm X has sold well since its 1965 publication. - Definition, Examples & Cases, What is a Civil Society? "[33] These comments became the epilogue to the Autobiography, which Haley wrote after the death of his subject.[34]. [64] Stone writes that Haley's description of the Autobiography's composition makes clear that this fiction is "especially misleading in the case of Malcolm X"; both Haley and the Autobiography itself are "out of phase" with its subject's "life and identity". He scratched red through 'we kids.' As in the Romaine papers, I found more evidence of Haley's sometimes-weekly private commentary with McCormick about the laborious process of composing the book. [33] In the agreement, Haley gained an "important concession": "I asked for—and he gave—his permission that at the end of the book I could write comments of my own about him which would not be subject to his review. [52], Andrews suggests that Haley's role expanded because the book's subject became less available to micro-manage the manuscript, and "Malcolm had eventually resigned himself" to allowing "Haley's ideas about effective storytelling" to shape the narrative. "[62] Further, Rampersad says, many admirers of Malcolm X perceive "accomplished and admirable" figures like Martin Luther King, Jr., and W. E. B. But late that night Malcolm X telephoned. And he said, 'I remember the kind of dresses she used to wear. The Library of Congress held the answers. When the Autobiography was published, The New York Times reviewer described it as a "brilliant, painful, important book". While Malcolm X and scholars contemporary to the book's publication regarded Haley as the book's ghostwriter, modern scholars tend to regard him as an essential collaborator who intentionally muted his authorial voice to create the effect of Malcolm X speaking directly to readers. [100] Other authors who attempted to draft screenplays include playwright David Mamet, novelist David Bradley, author Charles Fuller, and screenwriter Calder Willingham. In 1998, Time named The Autobiography of Malcolm X as one of ten "required reading" nonfiction books.

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