"The New Irony of Ishmael Reed against the New Racism of Postracial America"
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| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Citation | |
| Description | The chapter demonstrates how the satire of Ishmael Reed has evolved from a stage which frequently criticises through non-standard sexuality to a stage which frequently criticises through logical argumentation (as can be seen in novels published in 1990s and 2010s). By discussing examples from Reed's 1993 novel Japanese by Spring, the chapter connects these two modes of satire to two types of American racism: overt (present in the public discourse till the Civil Rights Movement) and covert (present in the public discourse after the Civil Rights Movement). It concludes by illustrating that as overt racism became unacceptable in American public discourse, Ishmael Reed updated his satire so that it would be argument-driven and could remain an effective type of social critique even under the new circumstances. |
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