Reader: Trina Tiemann 

Respondent: Valerie Jensen

Recorder: Kate Payne

“Jacket Notes”

Ishmael Reed

Unsettling America pp. 146-147 

Biographical Information:

Ishmael Reed is one of the most controversial African American writers today.  He was born in 1938 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and grew up in Buffalo, New York.  He’s a poet, novelist, and essayist.  He’s also a songwriter, television producer, publisher, magazine editor, and playwright.  He’s taught at Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth.  He now is a lecturer at the University of California at Berkley, and he has been there for over 20 years.  He’s published 9 novels, 5 books of poems, 4 collections of essays, and 4 anthologies.  He’s known for his use of humorous satire and parody to create new myths, and he usually offends his readers.  He writes about politics, social issues, racism, and history.

Quotes:

“Regardless of the criticisms I receive from the left, the right, and the middle, I think it’s important to maintain a prolific writing jab, as long as my literary legs hold up.”

“I try to do what has never been done before.”

Course Objectives:

1c. To observe alternative identities and literary strategies developed by minority cultures and writers to gain voice and choice.

Interpretation:

In this poem, Reed talks about the difficulties of being a black poet and how he doesn’t get much support, and how many people think he will fail.  He is comparing his profession as a black poet to going over Niagra Falls in a barrel.  There is a lot of humorous satire used in presenting his position on his struggles to become a successful black poet.

Questions:

1. What is the significance of the barrel, and what does he mean when he says he is bigger than the barrel?
2. What does he mean, in the 5^th stanza, when he says, “The tourist bus full of paying customers broke-down just out of Buffalo?”

Discussion:

The class was asked to respond to the 1^st question, and one response was that the fact that he is black, he is bigger than just a poet.  This person saw the barrel as society, and he is bigger than just a poet.  Someone else added that Ishmael Reed is above that, and he doesn’t care that he is bigger.  Another response was that he is saying that there are different spectators, but that they don’t see him as more than just a poet.  One last comment about the barrel was that he was seen as restrictions of society that were put on him.

As to the significance of the 5^th stanza, Dr. White commented that it’s pretty funny.  This is where some of Reed’s satire comes into play.  Andrea thought it meant that he can’t rely economically on his poetry, when referring to “the paying customers broke-down.” 

When Reed writes that they would rather dig the postcards than catch his act, someone commented that those people didn’t make it, and they are more interested in postcards.  Dr. White remarked that the beatnik voice is shown when he says, “dig.”  As for the title, Valerie mentioned that it is called “Jacket Notes” because it just gives the highlights.