II Richard Wright Newsletter II

VoLume 6, Number 1 FalllWilller 1997-1 998

Richard Wright and Black Music In This Issue

BY TORU KIVCHI Moreover, the town then reached Cover essay: NIHON UNIVERSITY the climax as the blues center Richard Wright and Black Music as Austin Sonnier, Jr. explain~ by Toru Kiuchi ...... (This essay is reprinted from the Jour­ in his A Guide to the BLues as Letter from the Editors ...... 2 nal of the College of Industrial Tech­ follows: "Beale Street was at its ze­ nology, Nihon University, Vol 30, June Wright News and Notices ...... 3 1997) nith from around 1900 to around 1930, when, because of the com­ TEACHING RICHARD WRIGHT Black music has sent insight­ bined onslaught of economic, ... At Wyoming Correctional Facility ful messages to many African social, and political change, it by Robert Butler ...... 4 American writers when they work began to collapse at a drastically on their novels, poems, essays, rapid tempo" (35). READING WRIGHT and plays. The music is an under­ Even more, Chicago and .. . At Tougaloo College lying aspect of Train WhistLe Gui­ New York where Wright lived by Howard Rambsy, II ...... 6 tar by Albert Murray. We hear from 1927 until 1937 and from echoes from Bessie Smith, Duke 1937 until 1947, respectively, ... At Wyoming Correctional Facility Ellington and Ma Rainey while were the major black music cen­ by Jonathan Edwards ...... 7 the novel's protagonist Scooter ters. Bruce Dick says in his es­ looks back on and narrates his say "Richard Wright and the BOOK REVIEW: Jon Panish's The childhood in the 1920' s. Imamu Blues Connection" that: Color of Jazz: Race and Representa­ Amiri Baraka's transformation of "[Memphis Minnie and Big tion iT! Posty,;ar American Culiiirt, jazz forms is wen known as in Bill Broonzy] and others fre­ by Diane Putnam...... 8 his BLack Magic: Collected Po­ quented taverns up and down etry, 1961-1967. Toni Morrison's Maxwell Street [in Chicago~ ... CONFERENCES & SYMPOSIA .. ,[6 latest work Jazz is like an artful One of Wright's favorite New jazz improvisation through writ­ York nightclubs was the Cafe Plus the latest Richard Wright ten words. Society Downtown .... the club ",-__B_ib_I'_'o_g,_a _p_hl_'c_S_up_'P_I_eme_' _n_t_!_.....J Richard Wright also, like other attracted some of the biggest sings in Native Son, to even com­ major African American writers, names in popular music, includ­ pose "King Joe Blues," and to use recognized the importance of ing [Count] Basie, Billie Holi­ play songs in Black Boy. black music, especially the blues, day, Lena Horne, Buck Clayton, It is reasonable that Ralph El­ because the places where Wright and Teddy Wilson ... " (395-99). lison, in his Shadow and Act lived during his earliest days were Thus, the blues and other should regard Wright's Black Bo; Delta blues towns such as Mem­ forms of black music had a seri­ itself as the blues, defining the phis, Tennessee, Helena, Arkan­ ous impact upon Wright's writ­ autobiography as "an impulse to­ sas, and Jackson, Mississippi. As ings. His familiarity with black keep the painful details and epi­ he writes in BLack Boy, there was music led him to compose for sodes of a brutal experience alive always around him "a saloon in the first time "Hearst Headline in one's aching consciousness, to front of which I used to loiter all Blues" in 1936, to incorporate finger its jagged grain, and to tran­ day long" (27), and from which play songs into his short story scend it, not by the consolation of many types of black music must "Big Boy Leaves Home," to philosophy but by squeezing from have been heard every night. have a Negro spiritual which the it a near tragic, near comic lyri­ Wright lived near Beale Street protagonist Bigger's mother cism" (78-79). in Memphis from 1925 until 1927 sings and a gospel song "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" which Wright says in the 1946 inter­ when he was seventeen to nine­ VIew, referring to black music: teen years old and most sensitive. Mary's boyfriend Jan Erlone (cant. page J I ) FaJlIWinter 1997-98 Page 1 From the Editors The Richard Wright Newsletter is published biannually by At year's end we send greet­ rectional Facility. Both Edwards Northeastern University ings and best wishes for peace and Howard Rambsy, II, a stu­ Department of English and justice to our readers. As dent at Tougaloo College, invited 480 Nightingale Hall this issue demonstrates, the fu­ us to con temporize Wright, view­ Boston, MA 02115 ture of Wright studies is a bright ing his novels in relationship to Phone: (617) 373-4549 one. There is still much to be the psychological and cultural Fax: (617) 373-2509 discovered and debated about his landscape that defines America's E-mail: [email protected] legacy to twentieth-century black male population, too many thought. of whom are found in America's EDITORS In our continuing effort to prisons. This convergence be­ Maryemma Graham, Northeast­ counter the notion that every­ tween real life situations and fic­ ern University thing has been said about Rich­ tional ones lies at the heart of the Jerry W. Ward, Jr., University ard Wright and offer new direc­ realist project, which Wright was of Memphisffougaloo tions for scho arly inquiry, we ever committed to. College have reprinted for our lead ar­ We encourage you to focus ticle TOfU IGuchi's "Richard on the 40th anniversary of The EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Diane Putnam, Northeastern Wright and Black Music," origi­ Long Dream in 1998. Please University nally written for a Japanese lit­ send information about activities involving the novel to RWN. erary journal. We hope you will INTERN Keisha Winston agree that the article offers valu­ Kudos to Diane Putnam who is serving a second term with the able insights into Wright's rela­ 1996-99 ADVISORY BOARD tionship to African American Richard Wright Circle. Diane' s Robert Butler expressive forms, requiring us to stunning achievements as a Thadious Davis rethink the commonly held view graduate student and now instruc­ Yoshinobu Hakutani that Wright was alienated from tor in the English Department at Keneth IGnnamon, Bibliogra- and indifferent to African Ameri­ Northeastern are only matched pher can culture. To put into broader by her stellar performance as a Alessandro Portelli perspective the impact of Afri­ two-term assistant editor. Thank Yvonne Robinson Jones can American music during you, Diane, for demonstrating Amritjit Singh Wright's era, we have also in­ that commitment to excellence is cluded Diane Putnam's review not a part-time affair. FOUNDING MEMBERS of Jon Panish's The Color of Next year will also bring sig­ Margaret Walker Alexander Jazz: Race and Representation nificant changes to the Richard Samuel Allen in Postwar American Culture. Wright Circle and the Newslet­ Ralph Ellison (1914-1994) Our section of Teaching and ter. It is likely that the FalllWin­ Michel Fabre Reading Richard Wright contin­ ter 1998 issue of RWN will be Maryemma Graham ues to yield a wide array of re­ published at a new institution. Jerry W. Ward, Jr. sponses. In addition to Jim We will ask members of the Circle Julia Wright Miller's new anthology of Ap­ to take responsibility for organ­ proaches to Teaching Native Son izing panels at CLA, ALA, and ©1997 RWC (a review of which will follow other professional meetings. You will receive details about changes The editors welcome all news in our next issue), both tradi­ relevant to the life and work of in the next newsletter. tional and non-traditional teach­ Richard Wright. The Richard ers/readers are represented in Wright Circle is supported by here. Bob Butler's informed the departments of African assessment of teaching in pris­ Maryemma Graham American Studies and English ons is complemented by a read­ Jerry W. Ward, Jr. at Northeastern University. ing of one of his own students, Jonathan Edwards, currently serving time in Wyoming Cor-

FalUWinter 1997-98 Page 2 Wright News and Reviews

NOTES ON PUBLICATIONS HURSTON / WRIGHT POSTAGE STAMPS FOR FOUNDATION PROGRAM WORLD LITERACY Approdches to Teaching Wright's Native Son, edited by James A. As part of its 1997-98 series On November 13, 1997, Miller, should inspire teachers to "Literature Live!" the Hurston! twelve of the most important fig­ extend discussions of Wright's Wright Foundation sponsored a ures in modern literary history masterpiece in new directions. The screening of the documentary were honored for the first time on book contains fifteen essays which Richard Wright-BLACK BOY at postage stamps in an effort to "describe strategies ranging from the Virginia Museum of the Fine promote world literacy in emerg­ textual analysis to consideration Arts (Richmond) on November ing nations. The first day of issue of [Native Son's ]: political and 15, 1997. The screening was ceremony took place at the Smith­ moral dimensions; discuss the dif­ followed by a panel discussion sonian Institution in Washington, ficulties of introducing the novel involving Julia Wright, Madison DC and featured a stamp unveil­ into the classroom; and provide Lacy, the film's director, and Jerry ing by the living honorees and specific approaches for classroom Ward. The panel emphasized the family members of those from the discussion, such as applying Fou­ enduring value of Wright's leg­ earlier part of the century. The cault's theories to Wright's fiction acy as a starting point for dealing event was organized by the Inter­ or examining how Native Son an­ with contemporary humanistic Governmental Philatelic Corp ticipates Spike Lee's Do the Right and political issues. J ulia Wright's (lGPC) along with the Smith­ Thing. The collection, the fifty­ poignant remarks about her sonian Institution's Center for eighth in the Modern Language father's life and his influence on African-American History and Association's Approaches to her politics were especially effec­ Culture and the African-Ameri­ Teaching World Literature series, tive. Lacy focused on the power can Resource Center of Howard costs $18.00 in paperback and offilm to evoke new perspectives University. Issued by the nations $37.50 in cloth. To purchase the on the past, and Ward drew atten­ of Ghana and Uganda the Stamps book, call MLA customer serv­ tion to the recognition of "black­ honor six living writers: Maya ices (212) 614-6384 or fax your boyness" as an originating mo­ Angelou, Rita Dove, Mari Evans, order (212) 358-9140. ment for both W .E.B. DuBois and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. , Charles Richard Wright and to the par­ Johnson and June Jordan. The six ticular reverence of Wright 's later honorees from the past include works. Toni Cade Bambara, Sterling A Founded by novelist Marita Brown, Alex Haley, Stephen ~ Golden the HurstonIW right Foun- . Henderson, Zora Neale Hurston, ~ - dation is committed to commem­ and Richard Wright. The concept of the tribute was developed .. .-.. ..- - . orting the work and spirit ofZora Neal Huston and Richard Wright through a suggestion by E. m Ethelbert Miller, Director of the and to honoring "excellence among African-American college African-American Resource student writers" through its an­ Center at Howard University. In this issue: a book nual HurstonlWrightAward. Ad­ Those wishing to obtain this his­ review on Jon Panish's ditional information about the toric postal series should contact a The Color of Jazz: work of the Foundation can be local stamp dealer or call 1-800- Race and Representation obtained by writing to Ms. Golden STAMP-97. in Postwar American at the English Department, Vir­ Culture. giniaCommonwealth University, P.O. Box 842005, Richmond, VA Seepage 8 23284-2005.

FalVWinter 1997-98 Page 3 Teaching Richard Wright • • •

the book in the spirit in which it neither force being dominant at was written, as an alarm clock key points in the novel. Teaching Native SOil in waking up its readers, making Our study of these philosophi­ Prison them more deeply aware of them­ cal matters not only produced selves and the life around them. lively discussion but also got BY ROBERT BUTLER For these reasons, teaching Na­ students to read the text of Natiw. CANISIUS COLLEGE tive Son in such a setting is a very Son very closely, reading key challenging and exciting experi­ scenes in careful detail and pay­ For the past twenty years I ence which reminds me forcibly ing attention to important image have taught regularly in the col­ that Wright's novel is as relevant patterns and symbols. This led to lege programs at three Western today as it was when it first ap­ their writing five-page argumen­ New York prisons, a maximum peared in 1940. tative essays which were not only security facility at Attica and two ] taught Native Son most re­ forcefully written but also me­ medium security prisons, Wyo­ cently at Wyoming Correctional ticulously well documented. ming Correctional Facility and Facility in the Spring, 1997 Some of the students described Collins Correctional Facility. semester as part of a Freshman Bigger sympathetically as a vic­ During sections of composition Composition course which in­ tim of a racist environment which to advanced courses in modern cluded Dreiser's Sister Carrie, compelled him into acts of self­ literature and American litera­ Kesey's One Flew Over the destructive violence, while other ture. Teaching Wright's master­ Cuckoo's Nest, and Theroux's students wrote equally convinc­ work in these three prison set­ The Mosquito Coast. Although ing essays which were quite criti­ tings has been a deeply reward­ the students became energeticaUy cal of Bigger, arguing that he had ing experience for me since the and productively engaged with better options than the ones he students in these prison classes each of these novels, it was Na­ chose to exercise. Saki Salaam, respond to literature in such in­ tive Son that triggered their most for example, observed that "Na­ telligent and impassioned ways thoughtful and impassioned re­ tive Son is as naturalistic as it and are particularly receptive to sponses both in our class discus­ gets" because Bigger's social books possessing the power, sions and in their written work. environment provided him and depth, and resonance of Native I began our study ofthe novel other black people with "no Son. with a lecture on naturalism and chance for advancement." Saki Many of the students whom I existentialism as literary modes, teach in prison grew up in cir­ stressing how the former envi­ cumstances not very different sions human life as driven by a They read the book in from those which Bigger Tho­ variety of environmental forces mas is forced to endure and all of while the latter insists that con­ the spirit in which it was these students have no trouble sciousness and free will are ulti­ written, as all alarm understanding Wright's meta­ mately decisive in human behav­ clock waking up its phorofmodern society as a "jail" ior. This led to much careful and which separates people from each spirited debate, with some stu­ readers, making them other and frustrates their most dents arguing that Bigger is a more deeply aware of human impulses. As a result, victim of environmental deter­ themselves and the life they respond to Native Son as a minants such as social condition­ living experience which speaks ing, economic pressure and bio­ around them. . .. directly to them about their own logical compulsion while other which reminds meforcibly lives, rather than seeing the book students claimed that Bigger's that Wright's novel is as a dusty museum piece which consciousness and will shape his must be respectfully gazed at and behavior. Some students took an as relevant today as it dutifully studied as a way of intermediate position, insisting was when it first ap­ passing yet another formal re­ that the novel's plot was driven peared in 1940. quirement on their way to earn­ by a complex mixture of free will ing a college degree. They read and environmental pressure, with FalllWinter 1997-98 Page 4 saw violence as the "norm" in the other three works on the syl- r;=:======jl Native Son because the novel labus. When we studied Sister These papers emphatically dramatizes a world saturated with Carrie many were struck by simi- reveal that the class as a fear: 1arities between Bigger's story "Fear was always the focus and Hurstwood's demise and a whole saw Bigger as of Bigger's life ... Bigger didn't few students pursued the literary Wright described him in kill out of lust, or for money, but relationship between Dreiser and "How 'Bigger' Wa s Born, , out of fear ... I think Mr. Wright Wright in the research paper due chose the perfect title for Book at the end of the semester. When as "a snarl of many One because Bigger's environ­ we later read One Flew Over the realities ", a character ment caused him to fear every­ Cuckoo's Nest, one student re­ thing. He had no other choice." marked that Bromden and who is indeed "bigger" Marwan Sidberry saw Big­ McMurphy seemed to represent than any of the stereotyped ger in a much harsher light, con­ the two extreme poles of Bigger' s views which characters tending that "Bigger allows existence, what Wright described himself to be a victim of environ­ as the two "rhythms" of Bigger' s like Buckley, Max and Mr. ment because he lets his fear of life, "violence and indifference." Dalton have of him. the white world stagnate him" Other students noticed that c ======'­ Roderick Harris viewed Bigger Wright' s use of the prison as a neither as a victim nor a failure literal setting and a metaphor of sensitive readings of Native Son but as a person who grows and modern society were quite simi­ as a kind of doorway into other eventually achieves an existen­ lar to the ways in which Kesey books, gradually building a con­ tial sense of self: employed the madhouse and tbey text which got richer and fuUer as "Bigger finally realizes the wrote fascinating comparison! the course developed. And all of complexity of his world. He had contrast papers on this subject. this paid handsome di vidends for tried to solve his problems using When we concluded the course the extensive writing produced violence against outside forces, with The Mosquito Coast several throughout the course. Wright's but this only made his situation students linked it with Native Son powerful voice encouraged stu­ worse. He realizes that he has in terms of its relentless probing dents to release and develop the been a puppet of society: that is of the minds of its central charac­ power of their own voices as they doing what is expected. At this ters. One final exam essay noted undertook a wide variety of writ­ point, Bigger understands that he that the outward details in these ing tasks ranging from short criti­ must be at peace within before he novels were often used as reflec­ cal papers to full research papers. can truly live. No more will he tors of inwan;i states of mind and One of the central paradoxes allow society to dictate his ac­ that Allie Fox's psychological of Native Son is that even though tions. For Bigger, this is a spiri­ collapse was expressed in Fat Bigger's life is initially described tual revolution never before real­ boy's fiery explosion just as as a bleak prison existence, he ized." Bigger's tormented mind is re­ finally develops a human self These papers emphaticaUy flected in the fires raging in the while physically imprisoned. reveal. that the class as a whole furnace in the basement of the Perhaps one reason why students saw Bigger as Wright described Daltons' house. in prison read and write about him in "How 'Bigger' Was Born," Our study ofNative Son there­ Native Son in such perceptive, as "a snarl of many realities", a fore became a kind of foundation impassioned ways is that they character who is indeed "bigger" for the entire course. Not only sense it brings life within prison than any ofthe stereotyped views did the novel create vigorous open walls by developing within them which characters like Buckley, discussions which set a tone for the same kind of lucid and nu­ Max and Mr. Dalton have of him. all of our subsequent meetings anced consciousness which Big­ As the semester progressed, but the themes, characterizations, ger experiences at the end of his our work with Native Son in the and symbols found in Native Son life and Wright was liberated by first month of the course contin­ resonated usefully against those throughout his adult life. ued to yield fruitful results as found in the other three novels students deepened their knowl­ we studied. As a result, students 00 edge of the novel by relating it to were able to use their strong and

FalVWinter 1997-98 Page 5 Reading Wright ...

Repressed Potentials: Do Cross Damons Walk media's often times biased pres­ use to fit within the confines of Amongst Us? entations of a few black politi­ narrow, stereotypical, and biased cians, a few black entertainers, a definitions of the younger black BY HOWARD RAMBSY, /I few celebrities and athletes, and generation. The future of these TOUGALOO COLLEGE a disproportionate number of "outsiders," as society might call black criminals. As a result, them, is as bleak as their births. The black male characters in common misconceptions are that Just as Wright created a supple­ Richard Wright's Lawd Today!, dancing, singing, running, steal­ mentary work to Native SOil titled: Native Son, and The Outsider ing, fighting, and nothing intel­ "How Bigger was born" to hel p commit acts of violence and lectual are the only things of readers understand where Bigger crime. For the many individuals which little black boys and girls Thomas came from, he should influenced by the media's and are made. have created a work titled: "How society's suggestions that the Since the criminal-minded Cross Damon was born." Per­ average black males between the Bigger Thomas of Native Son haps, this work is entitled Black ages 17-25 are very likely to be and the violent Jake of Lawd To­ Boy. criminal, violent, and unintelli­ day! faU within these categories, Young black intellectuals will gent, the actions of Bigger Tho­ they are more easily identified continue to face the challenge of mas of Native Son, Jake of Lawd and noticed. A black intellec­ overcoming the circumstances Today!, and Cross Damon of The tual, on the other hand, criminal that caused Cross Damon to Outsider would make themiden­ or not, who ponders philosophi­ become criminal. Hopefully, they tifiable with the numerous young cal ideas and understands and will escape the unfortunate fate black males in handcuffs seen "overstands" political ideologies of the traditional independent daily in newspapers and on the such as Cross Damon would be thinker who has dreams and uses nightly news. Damon, however, thought only to exist in the mind any means necessary to over­ is remote from the stereotypes and words of Richard Wright. come. In the past, these individu­ usually attributed to young Afri­ Though Cross Damons and als have metaphorically and/or can American males. It is his young black intellectuals may be literally met assassins' bullets. superior intelligence and ponder­ of a rare breed, they have existed. When this country's citizens and ing of philosophical ideas not his They still exist. For instance, media cease the inappropriate violent behavior that disqualify while Native Son remains as practices of pontificating what Cross Damon from the criteria of Wright's most known work of "black is and black ain't," Amer­ what many call "the average black fiction, it is not Bigger but rather ica might be surprised at the male." Ironically, all too often, Cross Damon of The Outsider number of individuals that it has young black intellectuals, male that resembles Richard Wright been unconsciously or con­ and female,l share with Cross the man. And today, ,the young sciously repressing. Damon the burden of being con­ African American struggling to sidered outsiders. They are make sense of this world and viewed as outsiders; some black nation through self-discovery and Americans view their independ­ independent thinking will more IThe problems of young black ent thinking with suspicion; some that likely ponder the philosophic Americans are not necessarily non-black communities deny the Damon. Like Cross Damon, also, gender-specific, but I limit dis­ existence of their intellect. these indi viduals, criminal or not, cussion to males to complement Though the United States will face just as many and possi­ Wright's practice in fiction. claims to welcome and foster bly more hardships and feelings diversity, in many instances, it of alienation. These unique individuals are does not. Aided by negative stere­ 00 otypes, society'S definitions of forced to blend in or reside out­ blackness are taken from the side because they cannot or ref-

FalllWinter 1997-98 Page 6 Bigger is Revealed to Himself in their world, secure from fear and hysteria (38). Here the word In meeting Mary the BY JONA THAN EDWARDS soil appears to have dual mean­ WYOMING CORRECTIONAL ing. If Bigger were in a more opportunity to get "paid" FACILITY tranquil environment we could revealed itself to him, view the soil as a physical place. gathered power and he (The following selection is excerpted But here the soil means the mind from a longer essay) in which these people are at rest acted upon his own with, not their physical environ­ impulse. These circum­ We can acknowledge ment. stances did not make Bigger's environment as hard and Philosophical thinker and vicious, but, on the same hand, writer Ralph Waldo Emerson Bigger Thomas, they however subtly done, we need to likens the mind or soil to a garden revealed him to himself. see that choice is a cOnSCiOl-lS when he said, "Aman'smindcan decision however limited the fruit be likened to a garden, which of the tree from which we pick. may be intelligently cultivated or what is truly inside of himself, "He looked at Trader Horne neglected, it must, and will bring regardless of environmental or unfold and saw pictures of naked forth. It will harvest whatever external forces. black men and women whirling thoughts are planted in it, whether To further illustrate this point in wild dances and heard drums they be or good or evil." on page (93), he is trying to de­ beating and then gradually the Bigger was not adjusted to cide whether or not to call Mary's African scene was replaced by his mind and could not develop parents and alert them to her images in his own mind of white the basic instinct of planting the drunken state. Here Bigger had a men and women dressed in black right thoughts in his "mind" or decision to make. At this mo­ and white clothes, laughing, talk­ "soil. " ment he has complete control of ing, drinking and dancing. Those The intellectual immaturity the situation and of his fate to a were smart people; they knew Bigger displays is also a deter­ certain degree. Yet Bigger re­ how to get hold of money, mil­ mining factor that contributes to members now J an was with Mary lions of it" (36). his downward spiral. When he is in the car that night and how he Here Wright wants us to know faced with a situation that re­ has had her a lot (96). He be­ that Bigger is not proud of his quires a grown-up's attitude, he comes physically excited, but he ancestry vividly displayed in the rebels against it. still has the chance to leave. movie scene. Bigger replaces the "As long as he could remem­ When Mrs. Dalton enters the scene with one he feels offers ber, he had never been respon­ room, he has the chance to reveal him a better perspective of who sible to anyone. The moment a Mary's condition and possibly he would more want to be like. situation became so that it ex­ only lose his job. The situation Bigger sees white people as game acted something of him he re­ was not harmful and had not es­ players whom he can learn from. belled. That was the way he calated to "accidental" murder. As this image slips from his mind lived; he passed his days trying to This was in fact no accident as he is again confronted with the defeat or gratify power impulses Bigger would later admit. scene of Africa. The "symboli­ in a world he feared" (47). We Thoughts will go forth to mani­ cally darkened movie screen is can see that it was not the outside fest in deeds if gone unchecked, replaced hearing the roll of tom­ world Bigger feared but the inner be they good or evil. toms and the screams of black world of his own mind, which One of the most dramatic men and women dancing free and served as a catalyst for his ac­ quotes that shows the confused wild ... " (37). We can see by the tions in the world. Bigger did not mind of Bigger occurs when he shifting images, that Bigger is attract that which he wanted in blames Mary for causing him to not happy with visions that are a the world but that which he was. murder her. reflection of himself. He sees the We can see that he earns what is "Hell, she made me do it! I Africans as savages, which he in harmony with his thoughts. couldn't help it! She should've himself feels like. At the same The problem lies in his inability known better! She should've left time he sees them differently. to control his violent impulses. me alone, Goddamnit! He did These men and women were This would lead the reader to not feel sorry for Mary; she was adjusted to their soil and at home believe that he can only manifest (continued next page) Fall/Winter 1997-98 Page 7 Bigger is Revealed to Himself (continued from page 7) [ Reading Jazz: Book Review not real to him, not a human being; I he had not known her long for The Color of Jazz: Race and up the period in general, outlin­ that" (129). Representation in PosPtl.'ar ing basic failures of the New Deal In stark contrast to the mur­ American Culture. for African Americans at the same der of Mary is the murder of by Jon Panish time that "color blindness" ideol­ Bessie. Bigger's statement of University Press of Mississippi, ogy encouraged a politics of as­ not knowing Mary would suf­ 1997 similation. This, he claims, fice, if the murder of Bessie had Paperback, 166 p, $18.00 "enforced a paradoxical approach not occurred. In both acts Bigger to race. One one hand, sociolo­ was willfully destructive, calcu­ BY DIANE PUTNAM gists ... recognized and deplored lated and vicious beyond most NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY the fact that African Americans human comprehension. What encountered severely limited separates these two women is Although The Color of Jazz opportunities in U.S. society Bigger has had one and not the does not deal directly with the because of racism. Moreover, other. The justification of the life and work of Richard Wright, they held white Americans ac­ length of time is not acceptable. the period under examination is countable to a certain extent for In all Bigger's violent acts he clearly the time when Wright was perpetuating racism. However, shows little if no remorse. Re­ at his most productive, and as because they theorized that a - morse is a delicate feeling but Toru Kiuchi's cover article indi­ similation was the inevitable and difficult to hide, except by those cates, was himself inspired by desirable goal of African Amed ­ who plan and calculate to a vio­ jazz. Investigating both black can (or any minority group's) lent end. He felt no fear in what and white constructions of jazz progress, they left the exiting he had done to Mary. "It was a in American culture during the racial hierarchy in place: white­ kind of eagerness he felt, a confi­ early Cold War Era (1945-1966), ness remained the invisible norm dence, a fullness, a freedom: his The Color ofJazz is an important and standard of success, while whole hfe was caught up in a work which seeks to reveal the blackness remained stigmatized supreme and meaningful act differences between black and as a deficient, primitive culture (131). white experience, in relation to and identity" (8). These words leave little room Jazz. From the mainstream and to argue that Bigger's actions Panish's challenge is to re­ underground media's response to were not planned. I assert that he visit and reveal the racial climate Bebop to the writings of the Beats, did not come to his end by the around art forms and in geo­ Panish continually reveals fun­ pathway of mere forces, fate, or graphical regions (primarily damental differences in the ways circumstances, but by the path­ Greenwich ViUage in New York that black and white texts and way of his own thoughts and base City, but also Hollywood and San their authors construct jazz, jazz desires. He did not all of a sud­ Francisco) which have histori­ musicians, and performance, den fall into these crimes by stress cally regarded themselves as the particularly the use of improvisa­ or any external forces. Thecrimi­ most racially "progressive." tion. Defining blackness is his nal thought had long been se­ Defining "culture" as "a signify­ first task, which he does by citing cretly fostered in his heart. In ing system related to but not the "structural and thematic unities meeting Mary the opportunity to same as the signifying and social that inhere in African American get "paid" revealed itself to him, systems we identify as the politi­ culture" as demonstrated by gathered power and he acted upon calor the economic" (a la Ray­ scholars such as Henry Louis his own impulse. These circum­ mond Williams via Edward W. Gates, Houston Baker and stances did not make Bigger Said), Panish does not neglect to Stephen Henderson (xvii). Sig­ Thomas, they revealed him to contextualize the culture of the nifying, intertextuality, repetition himself. United States during the rise and and revision are all at play in fall of Bebop with the underpin­ jazz, and Panish points out again ning political and economic sys­ and again how these qualities are All references in the essay are to Wright, tems in place atthe time. His first Richard. Native Son. New York: depicted by black writers differ­ chapter does a fine job of setting ently than by white writers. HarperPerennial, 1993. FalUWinter 1997-98 Page 8 Panish also does not shirk that jazz enigma about whom tion of all band members and the from defining how whiteness in- much is said, but little actually audience, and they seek to ele­ fluences perception, claiming and known. This third chapter con- vate jazz by equating it with then thoroughly illustrating that tinues to give basic background European orchestral music (when white writers (both mainstream not just about Parker, but about wrested by white musicians from and counter-cultural) generally other musicians and the develop- the grasp of black artists) even as romanticized and stereotyped ment of Bebop as a whole. In the they insist that "black" music is jazz heroes, removed jazz from process, Panish also reveals that primitive and that black musi­ its historical context, and privi- HoHywood movie making about cians inherit musical skill at jazz leged individual struggle and jazz musicians was well behind ratherthan learn and develop their achievement in jazz over that of the times (indeed, he makes a talents. any community. strong point that at this time From HoHywood movies, Afterlaying the historical and subcultural elements did not make Panish moves thoughtfully political groundwork of the post- it to mainstream culture nearly as through a series of texts by Euro­ war period under discussion, rapidly as they do now); American writers Dorothy Baker, Panish focuses his second chap- enonnously appropriative ofjazz Mezz Mezzrow, Norman Mailer, ter on the development of Bebop music and culture; and often Jack Kerouac, and Ross Russell in Greenwich ViUage, the heart enacted "color blindness," to shift for their constructions of jazz of American progressive and the blame for the suffering of music and particularly the lone bohemian existence. Rather than individual performers from any jazz musician, often based on a the totally race blind or integrated racist source to drugs, alcohol, Charlie Parker-like figure. These neighborhood which character- and the "hard life" of the musi- texts reveal romantic idealiza­ ize many accounts of Village life ciano As Panish demonstrates by tions of jazz heroes; identifica­ during this time, Panish goes to close examination of The Glenn tion with another cultural "out­ great lengths to establish the racial Miller Story (1954, The Benny sider"; a sense of rebellion against inequities inherent in an artistic Goodman Story (1956), St. Louis the political and literary estab­ community in which all but a few Blues (1958) and The Five Pen- lishment through writing about, business are owned by Euro- nies (1959), "in each of these and stylistically mimicking, jazz; Americans, where blacks and movies the musician and the an emphasis on the technical as­ whites shared acquaintanceships music itself move away from the pects of playing the music over but not support systems, and black source toward the white historical, traditional, or emo­ where even interracial couples mainstream" (45). The focus of tional qualities; and the attribu­ enacted power politics. these films is on the individual tion of the jazz musician's hard- By attacking the progressive perfonnerratherthan theinterac- ships to anything but racism. stronghold in this way, Panish These Euro-American texts peels away its veneer to show are countered by readings of that good intentions were (and Inparticular, [Panish's) works by Ann Petry, James Bald- are) not enough, and that mem- win and Amiri Baraka, which ory can indeed reveal truth--when analysis of Beat writers create a more "complex portrait" everyone's memory is tapped. becomes more elaborate that depicts a musician's "posi- James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka, and revealing, questioning tion as part of a historical and Hettie Jones, Joyce Johnson, current community of people and Sally Banes, Dan Wakefield, John not only the self-absorbed traditions" (68). These texts de- A. Williams and a score of other preoccupation with the liberately deveiop differences be- former resident bohemians are tween African American charac- quoted to reveal that even in the narrator (author's?) ters rather than settle on a single Village, this period "was not the relationship to the representative figure. Allofthese racial millennium" (35). performing jazz artist, works also portray a Parker-like After turning the Village in- figure, not just as a soloist, but as side out, Panish turns to specific but also the very improvi- a specifically racial and political texts written by African- and Eu- sational nature of the symbol, and while all three use ropean-Americans from within writing itself. him differently, they all locate that community, skillfully turn- him in a "history of violence, vic- ing the focus onto Charlie Parker- t..::::====;::======::::=J timization, and suffering that is FalllWinter 1997-98 Page 9 The Color of Jazz (continued from page 9) "automatic" writing is exposed less as a brilliant enactment of Panish challenges those jazz improvisation than as an­ specific to African American who would like to think people," a tradition which most other form of "stream of con­ white writers at the time did not sciousness" writing, more in the of themselves as anti­ appear to address (73). tradition of James Joyce than of racist white people, in The book moves from the Charlie Parker. focus on Parker and the individ­ Panish's final chapter con­ the mainstream and in ual jazz musician to a broader tains a worthwhile explanation the margins, to approach look at jazz performance as rep­ of jazz improvisation. This ex­ the millennium by resented in various texts, and planation would have been use­ finally into the improvisational ful earlier in the book, particu­ examining "one's aspects ofthe music. Panish uses larly during his focus on repre­ relation to se(f, others, sentations of jazz performance many of the previously mentioned and culture" (146). texts to illustrate the way that the just prior to this chapter. The de­ jazz musician performs differ­ tailed relationship of jazz im­ ently in the works ofEuro Ameri­ provisation to other African cans than in those by African American literary tropes, such as Americans, illuminating the re­ signifying and call and response, things white. (Indeed, there were lationship of performer to audi­ reveals the cultural and historical many who, like Richard Wright, ence as well as the interaction aspects of that musical tradition. fully separated from American between members of the band. In This vision of improvisation society by becoming expatriots particular, his analysis of Beat contrasts vividly with depictions after the War and attempting to writers becomes more elaborate and uses in Euro-American texts find equality and appreciation and revealing, questioning not which want to reject aU ties to tra­ elsewhere). Panish calls for a only the self-absorbed preoccu­ dition. Rather, white texts tend deeper understanding of not only pation with the narrator to define improvisation as purely the past, but also present times, (author's?) relationship to the an individual expression of crea­ when these issues are as perti­ performing jazz artist, but also tivity: "Influenced by what they nent as ever. Panish challenges the very improvisational nature were witnessing at that moment those who would like to think of of the writing itself. injazz history--Bebop's full flow­ themselves as antiracist white It is in his final chapter on ering of the jazz soloist--Holmes people, in the mainstream and in "Improvising the text" that Pan­ and Kerouac conflated the latest the margins, to approach the ish delivers some of his most per­ innovation in the tradition with millennium by examining "one's suasive arguments, proposing that the essence of improvisation it­ relation to self, others, and cul­ white and black writers, in the self' (132). ture" (146). He has demon­ way that they translate jazz into Pan ish expresses concern in strated these relationships in the literary narrative, "demonstrate his Epilogue that his book is past in such a way as to provide a significant differences in terms overly harsh to whites, acknowl­ model for today's progressive-­ of their understanding of the jazz edging that the limitations of era carefully but firmly removing the tradition, the function of the jazz and culture applied; however he white experience from the center musician, the connections be­ raises the important question of of the universe. Reading this tween music and literature and whether or not good intentions book is an invitation to do just between literature and social are ever enough. Clearly they that, and to learn a good deal reali ty , and the nature of improvi­ were not for for the many African about jazz, jazz history, and the sation" (117). Panish carefully Americans who, by the end of the "evolution" of American popular and thoroughly examines the period covered in this book, cut culture in the process. different uses of jazz forms and their ties to progressive Euro­ imitation of jazz techniques in pean Americans in pursuit of writing by African Americans and separatist strategies for empow­ European Americans, and his erment, recognizing that integra­ examination is revealing, particu­ tion and assimilation meant the larly at the point that Kerouac' s continued valorization of all

FalllWinter 1997·98 Page 10 Richard Wright and Black Music Weldon Johnson, Wright deals (continued from page 1 ) version and was incorporated as "The Literature of the Negro in with these Negro spirituals, the blues, and ditties as a valuable "But never forget when you hear the United States" into White the jazz or the spirituals that back Man, Listen! in 1957. This French part of African American literary of them simmers bitter rebellion. version is slightly different from history. Do not overlook the fact that hatred the English one, but they are He recognized the historical is the element in which the Ne­ basically the same in the general importance of black music with groes live, the hatred of the disin­ idea. the initial glance at American herited from which no black man In the English version, Wright culture from that distant place. can isolate himself!" (Conversa­ adopts Negro spirituals and black While he was within the United States before 1947, he was only tions with Richard Wright 108). folk songs as examples for an ac­ This is Wright's typical view count of the African American of the somewhat narrow opinion of black music before he leaves for literary history. He notes in this that the blues embodies protest Europe. As his Native Son and essay on the blues and other folk and anger, and could not afford to BLack Boy are written on the basis songs that "NumericaUy, this have a global outlook on music. of protest, Wright's concept of formless folk utterance accounts Only when he took a look at it black music is based upon "bitter for the great majority of the Negro with an exile's eye did he obtain rebellion" and "hatred." However, people in the United States, and it the objective viewpoint of black in the 1960 interview a few days is my conviction that the subject music. before his death in Paris, Wright matter of future novels and Moreover, Wright was greatly puts his concept of black music poems resides in the lives of these influenced by his direct encoun­ upon the basis of sexuality. He nameless million" (White Man, terwith European culture, includ­ says: Listen! 88 ). ing his acquaintance with Jean "In spirituals and in Ray Char­ Paul Sartre and Simone de les--I repeat--there's the same rr======;- Beauvoir, their existentialist writ­ erotic exultation. This aspect of Wright's viewpoint of ings' the other French surrealists, European modernist movement black music has been denied for black music is slightly too long. The faith of mystics and and so forth. In the 1950's the of most blacks has a sexual ingre­ but significantly changed blues and jazz musicians were dient which well meaning people after he permanently much more respected in France than in the United States. Wright are too timid to dare admit, but moves from the United which must be proclaimed" (Con­ himself could keep his pride high versations with Richard Wright States to Europe in the in such a mood in Europe. 243). summer of 1947. According to Paul Oliver's Thus, Wright's viewpoint of The Story of the Blues, the first black music is slightly but signifi- L======~ blues singer who impressed him­ self on French audiences was cantly changed after he perma­ Wright notices that there are nently moves from the United Huddie Ledbetter who visited two pools of black music expres­ France in 1949 ~s a singer for Ie States to Europe in the summer of sion: the sacred and the secular. 1947. It is meaningful for us to Fondation des Etats-Units Con­ For the sacred examples, Wright cert, that is, the Paris Jazz Fair. trace further the change ofWright's cites from Negro spirituals such image of black music in order to Two years later, in 1957, Big Bill as "Sometimes I Feel Like a Moth­ Broonzy was invited to France interpret the musical aspect of his erless Child," "s wing Low, Sweet works written in Europe. and he traveled around the Euro­ Chariot," "Steal Away to Jesus," pean continent, not only France Even after he moved to Europe, and "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jer­ however, Wright's interests in mu­ but England and Belgium, every icho." For the secular examples, year. Wright himself praises sic did not cease, of course. The Bessie Smith's "Backwater first essay that Wright wrote after Huddie Ledbetter as represent­ Blues" and "Dink's Blues" as well ing "the entire folk culture of the his arrival in Europe was" Littera­ as The Dirty Dozens. As he takes ture noire americaine" published American Negro" in his article up well known African American "Huddie Ledbetter, Famous Ne­ in French in the August 1948 issue poets such as Phillis Wheatley, ofLesTempsModernes. This essay ~ro Folk Artist" which appeared Paul Laurence Dunbar, AmaBon­ 10 the 1937 Daily Worker news- was later expanded to an English temps, W.E.B. Du Bois, andJ ames (cont. page 12)

FalllWinter 1997-98 Page 11 Richard Wright and Black Music absence. What he listened to (continued from page 11) was the rhythm and blues played by Sonny Boy William­ "Chicago 's Negro music paper. Later, he also wrote the son, Leroy Carr, Tampa Red, has become the music jacket notes titled "So Long, Big Peetie Wheatstraw, and so on. of the teeming millions Bill Broonzy" when Big Bill died The music sounded quite new to in 1958. In this liner note he con­ him after having lived away who live in most of the siders the blues musician "a dar­ from America for two years in cities of the 'world to­ ingly truthful and universal poet." Europe. He listened to it with In the European revaluation an almost Parisien ear. To day! ... There is no death of the blues, many European Wright, the blues lyrics began for a song" popular music scholars such as to have another meaning. Paul Oliver made a field research When the filming of the --Wright, "The Shame on the blues in the South of the ghetto scene in Chicago was fin­ United States. As a result, in­ ished, Wright and his other of Chicago" credibly, European blues fans out movie people went to Argentina. II numbered American fans in the Because Wright concentrated on mid-1960s. When Wright was the filming of Native Son. "The ference. living in Paris in the late 1950s, FB Eye Blues" was the only The next work Wright tried hi this was the environment around work that he produced during his hand at was the novel The Out­ black music. stay in Argentina. Even though sider. Wright started in earnest to After he spent two years in he decided to bring his mind to work on it as soon as he arrived in Paris and a few months in other bear on playing the role of Big­ Paris in September 1947. It took European cities, Wright made a ger Thomas, he did not forget five years and the novel was com­ visit to Chicago from Paris in the music. The eye in FB eye is not pleted in 1952 and finally pub­ summer of 1949 for the filming the capital letter I but the eye to lished in 1953, when Wright was of Native Son. This was his first see. The last stanza in "The FB already known as a Parisien intel­ visit since he left the United Eye Blues" is: lectual. The novel begins with the States in 1947. He wrote an es­ protagonist Cross's friend Pink's say titled "The Shame of Chi­ That old FB eye; tied a bell song: cago" for the December 1951 is­ to my bed stall sue of the Ebony magazine, which Said old FB eye; tied a bell If the ocean was whisky relates his impressions of the to my bed stall And I was a duck South Side in the city: Each time I love my baby, I'd dive right in "Chicago Negroes were still gover'ment Know it all. And never come up. (2) turning out jazz records! The blues are still being sung! One There is an explicit sexual Now, Wright knows the effi­ of my fondest memories is of a suggestion in the last line of the cacy of music, and puts this sym­ visit to a South Side record shop. stanza, compared to the last bolic song at the beginning of the What music! From the South stanza in "King Joe Blues" that novel, representing the existential­ Side jazz and blues have gone to Wright composed in New York: ist fate of Cross Damon's life. After the four corners of the earth and a subway train accident in Chi­ made known the humanity of the Bull frog told boll weevil; cago, Cross Damon leaves for New Negro and have quickened and Joe's done quit the ring York and begins a new life in a lifted the sense of humanity in Bull frog told boll weevil; lodging house in New York. The countless others. Chicago's Ne­ Joe's done quit the ring owner Mrs. Hattie Turner always gro music has become the music Bull weevil says; he ain't plays blues or jazz records. Cross of the teeming millions who live gone and he's still the king. contemplates that: in most of the cities of the world "The raucous blue-jazz became today! ... There is no death for a In "The FB Eye Blues," as one his only emotional home now and song" (32). can see, there is not only protest he listened with an appreciation he Wright wistfully and freshly but also humor and sexuality. had never had before. He came to listened to the blues and jazz from Wright's first experience as an feel that this music was the rhyth­ juke boxes in Chicago after a long exile in Europe made this dif- mic flauntings of guilty feelings,

FalllWinter 1997·98 Page 12 -­=

the syncopated outpourings of down-heartedness, they are not the protagonist Lucy sings frightened joy existing in guises intrinsically pessimistic; their bur­ "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" for forbidden and despised by others" den of woe and melancholy is a girl Lily, a Jan Erlone does (140). dialectically redeemed through in Native Son. Similarly, the This passage also shows how sheer force of sensuality, into an short story "Man, Got Ain't Like Wright himself thinks of the blues almost exultant affirmation of life, That" written in 1958 has ten in Paris. Living for more than of love, of sex, of movement, of songs in it. Among all of his five years in Europe now and ma­ hope" (ix-x). published writings, this story is terially influenced by European As Wright stated in the 1960 the only fiction with Paris for culture, he interprets that the blues interview mentioned before, he fi ­ the setting. and jazz are not so much a repre­ nally found that musical obses­ In fact, his last novel The sentation of "bitter rebellion" and sion is stronger than any other Long Dream deals with the "hatred," as an expression of political power. The psychoana­ Southern climate from where "guilty feelings" and "frightened lytical novel Savage Holiday was Wright's black mu sic has been joy." It is in Paris that Wright written under the influence of derived. In the novel, music, wrote this passage about New Freudian psychology as one of the especially songs, also plays an York. Cross Damon or Richard European cultures, with an em­ important role. First, Fishbelly Wright listens to the blue-jazz phasis on a sexual cause. As for sings in his dream. The mood with an appreciation he has never music, Wright notices, the sexual in the novel seems as if return­ had before. The European influ­ power in a psychological sense ing to that in Uncle Tom's Chil­ ence deepens his concept of the also has a great soothing potency. dren. Music is further treated blues and jazz. After the child Tony's death from here as follows: Cross Damon leaves Mrs. tumbling from balcony, for which Turner's apartment for Green­ the protagonist Erskine Fowler is When I'm a man wich Village in New York and partly responsible, he goes to I mean to buy shares another room with a white church and hears a hymn faintly A dozen barrels Communist Party official Gil floating out of the church. "The Of pumpkin pie ... (27) Blount. Alone in his room, Cross nostalgia of the singing voices ponders over Communism, and soothed his taut nerves and at once After FishbeUy is scolded by then, an idea hits upon him. he felt better" (84). The church his mother for secretly smoking, "This systematizing of the hymn song goes: he dashes out of the house and sensual impulses of man to be a starts a mud ball fight with his god must needs be jealous of all Just as I am, though toss'd friend Zeke, singing these dit­ rival systems of sensuality, even about ties: those found in poetry and music. With many a conflict, many a Cross, lying on his bed and star­ doubt, Old man Bud ing at the ceiling, marveled at the Fightings and fears within, Was a man like this; astuteness of both Communist and without, He saved his money Fascist politicians who had o Lamb of God, I come. (84) By loving his fis' ... banned the demonic contagions of (101-03) jazz" (200). In the short story "Man of All As Wright's spokesman, Work" written in 1957 and later Fishbelly declares that Cross declares the sensual power posthumously published in 1961, "Man, music's wonderful" possessed by music. His Euro­ (103). Fishbelly' s friend Tony pean experiences more and more ~======:;-J boasts that "We black folks sing deepen his view of music. He As Wright stated in the better'n anybody in the world" recognizes another aspect of black (103). These songs cause music in the light of politics. 1960 interview mentioned Fishbelly to grow out of child­ Wright writes in the foreword for before, he finally found hood to become a man. The fu­ Paul Oliver's Blues Fell This that musi-cal obsession is neral ceremony of Fishbel1y's Morning: father Tyree takes place after he "Yet the most astonishing as­ stronger than any other is shot to death. As many as pect of the blues is that, though political power. eight sacred hymn songs are replete with a sense of defeat and (continued page J4)

FalVWinter 1997-98 Page 13 Richard Wright and Black Music Europe. . ,I (continued from page J3) As Craig Werner argues 10 I the essay "Bigger Blues: Native Though he made more Son and the Articulation of Afro­ sung for Tyree and the other and more different uses forty-two victims at the cere­ American Modernism" which mony. appeared in New Essays on Na­ of black music aspects He flies away from the South tive Son that European modern­ in his works during his directly to Paris after the incident, ists such as James Joyce, Marcel not via Chicago or New York, Proust, and Virginia Woolf, even later years in Europe, unlike Wright himself. The un­ before Wright left for Europe, Wright neverfailed had already cast a shadow over published novel "Island of Hal­ to forget his blues roots lucination" is a sequel to The Native Son. Wright knew that a surrealistic element can be seen from the deep South . .. Long Dream, depicti~g Fish?elly in African-American life as weU after arriving in Pans. Michel as in the blues and jazz. Fabre's essay "Richard Wright's Though he made more and Paris," which appeared in The more different uses of black mu­ tion" and "tough life" are City in African American Litera­ sic aspects in his works du~ing blended into a new whole. ture traces the protagonist fish's his later years in Europe, Wnght The blues born in rural Mis­ first adventure in Paris. Fabre never failed to forget his blues sissippi was urbanized in going writes: " ... [Fishbelly] slouches roots from the deep South, as up to Chicago, a~d was accord­ back through the Latin Quarter Michel Fabre justly points out in ingly changed 1Oto t~e form until he comes across orgiastic his The World of Richard Wright of modernized soul and Jazz. In­ jazz music streaming form the that "At the root of Wright's fluenced by European culture lighted windows of cafe. La Per­ fondness for what he calls surre­ such as surrealism, Wright found gola ... While an ornate Juke box alism one finds not a reading of a characteristic common both to plays "Send for Me," a besfJec­ the French surrealists ... but the blues and to haiku, seeing tacled youngster, who pndes rather ... the influence of the blues the method of juxtaposing and himself upon writing for Real with their typical ability to bring blending two seemingly . unre­ Jazz, asks him point blank together seemingly unrelated ele­ lated matters, as shown III ex­ whether he knows who played ments of the American Negro's amples such as a Japanese an­ trumpet for Earl Hines in 1924 at existence and blend them into a cient haiku poet Basho's poem the Sunset Cafe in Chicago. new, meaningful whole" (72). in R.H. Blyth's Haiku: Fish[beBy] cannot answer, and to For example, the lyrics in Hud­ his amazement, the youngster die Ledbetter's song Rider" "c.c. The old pond; tells him that jazz is his culture, goes as follows: a term he had never heard any­ A frog jumps in .... The sound of the water. body in Amer~ca apply. to black See see rider; see what you music. For hIm Jazz IS relaxa­ done done Blyth explains about this poem tion, but the French study it as You made me love you; now in the technique of haiku, say­ art" (101). your man done come ing that "The haiku has ~o logi­ This impression must be the I was looking right at her; cal connection of prenuse and same when Wright first had to when the sun went down conclusion, but there is some face the French attitude toward She was standing in the similarity between it and the syl- black music. Wright knew that kitchen; in the morning there was a different way to lis­ logism" (329). . gown . . When Wright read thIS ex­ ten to black music, and his view Let me be your Sidetrack; tI11 of it changed little by little after your mainline comes. planation he notic~d t.hat t~e composition of haIku IS quite that. (Taft 165) In his latest days, Wright similar to the lyrics of the blues, and that the blues lyrics are ap­ composed thousands of haiku on Here, suddenly railroad terms his death bed. He learned this such as "sidetrack" and "main­ plicable to haiku compos~tion. He "bring[s] together seenungly Japanese short poem style hne" appear as symbolic words unrelated elements" into one to through R.H. Blyth's book Haiku for traveling to the north, con­ compose haiku as he ~id in mak­ which he borrowed from an Af­ necting the image of free trave~­ rican youth. Haiku is a key~o~d ing his blues. Here IS a ~epr~­ ing with that of love. T,-,;? ~fn­ sentative example of Wnght s to his concept of black mUSIC 10 can-American elements nugra- FalVWinter 1997·98 Page 14 haiku, which he applies the blues lyrics to: Works Cited

Just enough of rain "Richard Wright and Black Music" (Kiuchi) To bring the smen of silk From the umbrellas Baraka, lmamu Amiri. Black Magic: Collected Poetry, Wright blends seemingly 1961-967. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1969. unrelated elements "rain" and Blyth, R.H. Haiku. Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 1949. "silk" into a new poetical and Dick, Bruce. "Richard Wright and the Blues Connection." surrealistic whole. Influenced Mississippi Quarterly 42(4). (Fall i 989):393-408. by European culture, he applies a Ellison, Ralph. "Richard Wright's Blues." Critical Essays surrealistic interpretation of the on Richard Wright. Ed. Yoshinobu Hakutani. Boston: blues to the composition of haiku. G.K. Hall, 1982. Pp. 201-12. Just before his death, Wright Fabre, Michel. "Richard Wright's Paris." The City in was planning a series of broad­ African-AmericanLiterature. Eds. YoshinobuHakutani casts on the blues and jazz for an and Robert Butler. London: Associated University African radio, according to the Presses, 1995. Pp. 96-109. article entitled "New York Beat" ---. The World ofRichard Wright. Jackson: U.ofMissis­ in January 1961 issue of the Jet sippi Press, 1985. magazine. Wright's further ap­ --- , and Keneth Kinnamon, eds. Conversations with plication of black music to his Richard Wright. Jackson: U of Mississippi P, 1996. literary expression regrettably Morrison, Toni. Jazz. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. ceased just before he went be­ Murray, Albert. Train Whistle Guitar. 1974. Boston: yond Europe to the world. Northeastern UP, 1989. Sonnier, Austin, Jr. A Guide to the Blues: History, Who's Who, Research Sources. Westport, CT: Greenwood P, Toru Kiuchi is an Associate Pro­ 1994. fessor at the Department of Lib­ Taft, Michael, ed. Blues Lyric Poetry. New York: Garland eral Arts and Basic Sciences, Publishing, 1983. College of Industrial Technol­ Werner, Craig. "Bigger's Blues: Native Son and the ogy, Nihon University. Articulation of Afro-American Modernism" New Es­ says on Native Son . Ed. Keneth Kinnamon. Cambr­ idge: Cambridge UP, 1990. Pp. 117-52. This article is based upon a paper Wright, Richard. Black Boy. 1945. New York: Harper & Kiuchi read at the International Row, 1966. Conference "African American ---. Foreward. Blues Fell This Morning: The Meaning of MusiclDance and Europe," held the Blues. By Paul Oliver. New York: Horizon P, 1960. at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, Pp. vii-xii. from April 24-27, 1996. ---. "Huddie Ledbetter, Famous Negro Folk Artist." Daily Worker (Aug. 12, 1937): 7. ---. The Long Dream. 1958. Chatham, NJ: Chatham Bookseller, 1969. ---. The Outsider. New York: Harper & Row, 1953. ---. Savage Holiday. 1954. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 1994. ---. "The Shame of Chicago." Ebony 7 (Dec. 1951): 24- 32. ---. "So Long, Big Bill Broonzy." Liner Notes for Record­ ing of "The Blues of Big Bill Bwonzy" in 1961. ---. White Man, Listen!. 1957. New York: Harper Perennial, 1995.

FalllWinter 1997-98 Page IS Conferences and Symposia

American Literature Creative Women During the Chicago Renaissance Association San Diego, California Agnes Scott College May 28-31, 1998 November 6-8,1997

The eighth annual conference of This symposium marked the first gathering of scholars from fields the American Literature Asso­ as diverse as literature, musicology, women's studies and African­ ciation will be held at the Bahia American studies to examine the Chicago Renaissance. Poet Hotel, 998 West Mission Bay Gwendolyn Brooks spoke about her experiences growing up in the Drive, San Diego, CA 92109 culturally stimulating environment of the Chicago Renaissance, (ph. 800-288-0770). The confer­ and she read some of her poetry set in that era. Marietta Simpson ence will begin on Thursday performed a concert of art songs by Price, Bonds, and their morning and continue through predecessors and successors. Dr. Robert Bone, Professor Emeri­ Sunday at noon, with an opening tus of Engtish, Columbia University, was among the featured lec­ celebration Wednesday night and turers (see the abstract from his talk below). A photographic a closing celebration Saturday exhibit of scenes from Chicago's African-American community evening. Preregistration Confer­ was on display, and a panel discussion focused on areas in which ence fees will be $40 (with a further research is needed. special rate of $10 for independ­ ent scholars, retired individuals, and students). The hotel is offer­ ing a conference rate of$82 single Richard Wright's Phototext: and $90 double. Pre-registration Twelve Million Black Voices information will be mailed to all program participants two weeks I by Robert Bone before the general mailing to all (presentedSaturday, November 8th) ALA members. This paper argues that Richard Wright's phototext, * nvelve Mil-

Participating author societies will I lion Black Voices: a Folk History ofthe Negro in the United States issues their own call for papers. (Viking Press, 1941) is the central document of the Chicago No one may present more than Renaissance. Its centrality lies in its sociologicaUy sophisticated one paper at the conference. treatment of the Great Migration, which Wright describes in his Papers must not be longer than foreword as "a complex movement of a debased feudal folk toward 20 minutes. a twentieth-century urbanization. This paper will document Wright's intellectual debt to the Chicago School of Sociology, to Check the ALA website for up­ whose writings he was introduced by Horace Cayton, a black dated conference and society sociologist whose major work, in collaboration with St. Clair information: http://engJish.byu. Drake, was a classic study of southside Chicago entitled Black edu/cronin/ala.htm. Metropolis, published by Harcourt Brace in 1945, with an intro­ duction by Richard Wright. I will attempt to show that Wright's If you have questions about the profoundest insights into the folk migration derived not from his 1998 conference, please contact Marxist sources, but from the writings of such Chicago sociolo­ the Conference Director, Jeanne gists as Robert Park, Louis Wirth, and Robert Redfield. Campbell Reesman, by email: reesman @lonestar.utsa.edu, or *Photo-direction by Edwin Rosskam. fax: 210-458-5366.

See you there! FalVWinter 1997-98 Page 16 Renewal Notice

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FaiVWinter 1997-98 Page 17 Northeastern University Richard Wright Circle 480 Nightingale Hall Boston, MA 02115