Dopefiend

Dopefiend: The Story of a Black Junkie is a 1971 novel by Donald Goines and his first published novel.[1] The book is considered to be Goines's benchmark novel and shares some similarities to the author's life.[2] The book deals with "the power dynamics between dealer and junkie and illustrates how a perverted, cowardly, black drug dealer in a dilapidated ghetto house can exert his influence across socioeconomic boundaries over anyone who becomes addicted to heroin. Goines emphasizes that no heroin user can emerge from the experience unscathed."[3]

The novel was written while Goines was incarcerated and was written after his book Whoreson was accepted by Holloway House's editors, but was published first.[4]

  1. ^ McClelland, Edward (2013). Nothin' But Blue Skies. Bloomsbury Press. p. 139. ISBN 9781608195299. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  2. ^ Alger Drew, Bernard (2006). 100 Most Popular African American Authors. Libraries Unlimited. pp. 118, 119. ISBN 9781591583226. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  3. ^ Matthews, Valerie N. (1997). "Goines, Donald (1937–1974), novelist". The Oxford Companion to African American Literature. Oxford University Press. p. 320.
  4. ^ Goode, Greg (1984). "From Dopefiend to Kenyatta's Last Hit: The Angry Black Crime Novels of Donald Goines". MELUS. 11 (3): 41–48. doi:10.2307/467132. JSTOR 467132.