Writer Contemplates Quitting--Kind of.
The prolificMadison Smartt Bell is a native of Tennesee who landed in Baltimore via Princeton and New York City. For twenty years he has been a novelist and professor, for ten years his primary subject has been his Haitian Trilogy, historical novels revolving around the former slave Toussaint L'Ouverture and the rebellion he led in Haiti in 1801. The first book of the series was a finalist for the National Book Award. The last volume of the history, The Stone That the Builder Refused out in November, Bell, who has also written contemporary novels, says, "Actually, I might quit." Although no one is taking him seriously -- "Whenever I say this everybody laughs," Bell says he doesn't feel the desire to write anymore although he does have a few ideas floating around.