him best. An outspoken advocate of individual-
ity and iconoclasm, he is also, perhaps somewhat
paradoxically, deeply devoted to the community
of artists. He co-created the Before Columbus
Foundation, which celebrates the work of mul-
ticultural writers. He also edited the poetry and
fiction anthologies of the foundation and helped
establish its American Book Awards. He was also
the cofounder of a publishing company and sev-
eral journals (including Yardbird), all committed
to presenting and nurturing writers.
Reed’s project as a writer and editor is to sati-
rize and parody Western tradition, ideologues,
public figures, and historiography—whatever
stands in the way of the freedom of expression, of
telling one’s own story. Reed consistently works to
dismantle African-American stereotypes, the “fic-
tions” that others have created. This is diversity
and multiculturalism as practiced by Reed. No one
story should take precedence over another, and all
stories and styles are valid as long as they take other
voices into account. Reed’s vision of America is a
truly multicultural one, which seeks to illuminate
the interwoven complexity of our national and
cultural identity. No one story defines us all.
In 1970 Reed formally presented the blueprints
of his aesthetic: “The Neo HooDoo Manifesto,”
published as a prose poem in Reed’s poetry col-
lection catechism of d neoamerican hoodoo church.
The poem defines and celebrates what Reed calls
“neo hoodooism.” A “neo hoodoo” writer or text is
possessed of the spirit, a voice emanating in the Af-
rican diaspora. The quality is jazzlike in style and
content. In an often-quoted remark, the jazz mu-
sician Max Roach called Reed the “Charlie Parker
of American fiction.” The multiple stories and
styles, the textual hybridity, the rebellion against
tradition, the playful, soulful voice in Reed’s work
is reminiscent of jazz, or what Reed himself has
called “gumbo.” Neo hoodoo embraces rhythm,
magic, nature, intuition, music, the past, openness,
and creativity.
Even his first novel echoes this ideal. The hero
of the novel is Bukka Doopeyduk, a man who lives
in the country called HARRY SAM. Doopeyduk
has had little success surviving in this oppressive
society until he is asked by the “dictator” to be a
mouthpiece for his government. At first, Doopey-
duk agrees, but after undergoing significant changes
(including at one point turning into a werewolf )
he decides to plan a revolt. This early novel pre-
sents many of Reed’s major themes. The cartoon-
like names illustrate the simplistic stereotypes that
others force on African-Americans. Doopeyduk’s
ability to shape-shift suggests that the only way
African-Americans can escape this racism is by
“shaping” and redefining their own identities.
This idea is expressed in Reed’s second novel,
Yellow Back Radio Broke Down (1969), as well. A
parody of the American western, the work satirizes
not only dime-store novels but also the canons of
‘Western (i.e., European) literature.’ The main
character, a cowboy named “the Loop Garoo Kid,”
also suggests shape-shifting and multiple identi-
ties and perspectives. A “garou,” etymologically
connected to the character’s name, is a werewolf.
The “kid” symbolizes a new generation of African-
American artists, who are attempting battle with
literary standards and history. His antagonist, Drag
Gibson, represents the white, Anglo-Saxon tradi-
tion, while Loop Garoo’s other enemy, Bo Shmo, is
the leader of a “neo-social realist gang,” a descrip-
tion of the Black Arts Movement. Garoo fights for
the right to tell his story his way (“what if I write
circuses?”), and he is able to achieve this because
of his celebration of the neo-hoodoo aesthetic.
Reed’s most acclaimed work is MUMBO JUMBO, a
novel with a multilayered, open-ended plot. Pub-
lished in 1972, the novel was nominated for the
National Book Award. Reed’s collection of poetry,
Conjure, also published in 1972, received a Na-
tional Book Award nomination as well. It was the
first time in the history of the award that a single
author had been nominated in two categories in
the same year. Mumbo Jumbo appears on the sur-
face to be a detective story, but it is really an “anti-
detective” story. Reed’s purpose is not to unravel
the mystery but to celebrate it. The “mystery” sur-
rounds “JES GREW” ( JAMES WELDON JOHNSON’s term
for jazz) and the “Jes Grew” text, a representation
in this novel of neo hoodooism.
HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR., calls the novel the
“black intertext” and Reed’s parodying an “ex-
tended commentary on the history of the black
novel” (217). The novel is a montage of texts,
photos, flyers, music, and so forth. The novel,Reed, Ishmael 433