Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Ishmael Reed
- First Published: 1969
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Science fiction, Satire
- Subjects: African Americans, Magic or magicians, Tricksters, Supernatural, Nineteenth century, West, U.S., Washington, D.C., Christianity, Legends, Assassins, hit men, or contract killers, Heroes or heroism, Devils or demons, Circuses or carnivals, Cowboys or cowgirls, Westerns
- Locales: Washington, D.C., West (U.S.), Yellow Back Radio (fictive)
In a self-interview in the journal Black World, Reed explained the title of Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down word by word. “Yellow back” refers to the pulp-novel fiction that created the myth of the Old West at the end of the nineteenth century; “radio” continued it; “broke-down” means stripped to its essence. The novel, then, is a dissection of the popular culture images of the Old West and an indictment of the way they portray minorities.
Reed's first HooDoo hero, the Loop Garoo Kid, is the black cowboy who runs the circus at the opening of the novel;...
[The entire page is 1147 words long]
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