Research, Arts & culture, Humanities, Literature

Berkeley prof on ‘Becoming Richard Pryor’

By Roxanne Makasdjian

Interview by Roxanne Makasdjian; Video by Phil Ebiner and Roxanne Makasdjian

In this video Q&A, English professor Scott Saul discusses his new book, Becoming Richard Pryor.

The richly researched biography about the comedian is accompanied by a website, “Richard Pryor’s Peoria,” which presents more than 200 photographs and documents from Pryor’s first two decades in Peoria, Ill.

Saul, who says he is especially interested in “how particular artists are catalyzed by the history they are living through,” worked on the book for more than six years.