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'Great Black Hope' is a character study of a young, Black, queer man in high society

'Great Black Hope' is a character study of a young, Black, queer man in high society

NPR's Book of the Day · NPR

June 24, 20259m 23s

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Show Notes

Smith – the protagonist in Great Black Hope – is at a party in the Hamptons when he's arrested for cocaine possession. Smith is a young, Black, queer man of privilege who's floated through New York's largely white downtown social scene – but that changes when his roommate is found dead. In today's episode, author Rob Franklin joins NPR's Ayesha Rascoe to talk about his debut novel. They discuss Black respectability politics, the long tradition of bored rich kids in the literary canon, and the novel's origins.

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