Rififi

Abstract

Rififi* A. Van Jordan (bio) They take as men are wont to do—with zeal, like men who want more from the world, which sounds like a noble endeavor, but when they plan, their plans involve hurting others, if necessary, like men will do when they desire and every building, every storefront window, every locked door, every vault with jewels, even an open door, or a cop on a beat watching a building, forms a means to an end. The entire world fills with men wanting more, which sounds ignoble when this involves hurting others. When men with an endeavor— men with patience, with skill—can hurt the world, they do. They take, as men are wont to do, with zeal. [End Page 7] A. Van Jordan A. Van Jordan is the author of Rise, published by Tia Chucha Press (2001), which won the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award. His second book, M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, published by W.W. Norton & Co. (2004), was awarded an Anisfield-Wolf Award and listed as one the Best Books of 2005 by The London Times. Jordan was also awarded a Whiting Writers’ Award in 2004 and a Pushcart Prize in 2006, 30th Edition. Quantum Lyrics was published in July 2007 by W.W. Norton & Co. He is a recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (2007), and a United States Artist Williams Fellowship (2008). He is a Professor in the Department of English at the University of Michigan. Footnotes * For Jules Dassin, 1955 Copyright © 2012 The Johns Hopkins University Press