The LeRoi Jones/ Amiri Baraka Reader, edited by William J. Harris (TPB, 587 pages, 2000, $2.50)
Who is Amiri Baraka? On one hand he is an important author of poems, drama and jazz criticism, and he has won all kinds of awards. On the other hand, he has repeatedly been fired because of his opinions.
And oh, does he have opinions! He visited Cuba and was pro-Castro. He was critical of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement. He advocated the use of violence and rape against whites, Jews, women, and homosexuals. In 2001 he accused Bush and Israel of knowing 9/11 was going to happen. He was a black nationalist who turned to Marxism when he became convinced black nationalists were against class struggle as strongly as whites.
He wrote in the preface, "My writing reflects my own growth and expansion, and at the same time the society in which I have existed throughout this longish confrontation. Whether it is politics, music, literature, or the origins of language, there is a historical and time/place condition reference that will always try to explain why I was saying both how and or what." I have to give him credit for admitting he had been wrong in the past. Does that excuse his prior acts and writings? I don't think so. Still, the question has me thinking. Who has not seen their thinking and actions change over the years, but youthful anger, even if justified, never excuses the advocating of rape and violence. How much can be forgiven? How much can be accepted? What do you think?
I am putting this book on the new non-fiction table, but this collection can't be categorized. (L-gnf)
