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Ishmael Reed
Within the growing body of African American literature, Ishmael Reed
is one of the most celebrated and well-known authors now living. He has
served on the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley since
1968, and has taught and lectured at many other academic institutions, including
Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, Washington University in St. Louis, and the State
University of New York, Buffalo. The recipient of a 1998 MacArthur Foundation
"genius" fellowship, Reed has also been nominated for the Pulitzer
Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Award for both his poetry
and fiction.
Reed was born in Tennessee in 1938, but he grew up in a working-class family
in Buffalo, New York. He began his literary career while he was still a
college student, writing for The Empire Star Weekly, an African American
newspaper in Buffalo. At the same time, Reed co-hosted a local radio program,
which was cancelled after he aired an interview he'd done with Malcolm
X. In 1962, Reed moved to New York City and, in 1965, co-founded the legendary
underground newspaper East Village Other. In addition, Reed -- along
with other intellectuals and writers like Lorenzo Thomas, David Henderson,
and Calvin Hernton -- became active in the Umbra writers' workshop.
These thinkers ultimately established the Black Arts movement, a cultural
counterpart to the Black Power movement.
Reed's involvement in the Black Arts movement has been matched by his
advocacy of multi-ethnic and non-mainstream literature. Through his writing
and publishing, and through organizations like the Before Columbus Foundation
(which Reed co-founded in 1976 and which, in 1980, began sponsoring the
American Book Award), Reed has doggedly fought for literary innovation;
that fight is, in many ways, at the heart of his work. As scholar Robert Elliot
Fox explains: "[Reed] is engaged in a project of emancipating an artistic
heritage from predictable or predetermined forms and norms imposed by those
who fail to fully comprehend the depth and complexity of that heritage,
including its folkish inventiveness, hilarious undercurrents, and seasoned
extravagances."
Reed's own writing tends to press toward innovation as well. His novels,
poetry, and essays are widely recognized for their controversial satirizing
of racism and political repression. Reed has often been called "a modern
day Mark Twain" – a compliment that speaks to Reed's unusual
position as an icon of iconoclasm in the world of letters.
Reed's work often addresses the concept of a contradictory cultural
position; for example, in "Dualism," Reed's speaker describes
himself as both inside and outside of history. Frequently,
his work focuses on the ambivalence of such characters who are inside and
outside their community; for example, in the poem "Judas," Reed's
speaker questions Jesus about his relationship with the canny but cretinous
Judas: "Funny about best friends / huh, Lord." Reed often seems
to have a sort of wistful appreciation for cunning men, like Judas and Railroad
Bill, who can be both inside and outside at the same time.
Reed's nine novels include The Terrible Twos, Mumbo Jumbo, The Freelance
Pallbearers, and The Last Days of Louisiana Red. Among Reed's
other literary accomplishments are four books of poetry, two collections
of essays, and numerous reviews and critical articles. He also has edited
two major anthologies.
Works by the Author
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Work:
"Railroad Bill"