AUTHOR COMMENTARY

Reilly, Charlie. Conversations with Amiri Baraka. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1994, 271 p.

Collection of twenty-five interviews covering Baraka's life and career.

OVERVIEWS AND GENERAL STUDIES

Andrews, W. D. E. "The Marxist Theater of Amiri Baraka." Comparative Drama 18, No. 2 (Summer 1984): 137-61.

Concludes that Baraka's Marxist plays are his least effective dramas.

Benston, Kimberly W., ed. Imamu Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones): A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1978, 195 p.

A collection of essays by noted critics, including overviews of Baraka's career, a biographical essay, music criticism, and articles focusing on Baraka's prose, his poetry, and his drama.

Bigsby, C. W. E. "LeRoi Jones." In Confrontation and Commitment, A Study of Contemporary American Drama: 1959-66, pp. 138-55. Kansas City: University of Missouri Press, 1967.

Covers Baraka's early career up to 1967 and calls him talented though lacking in discipline.

Brown, Lloyd W. Amiri Baraka. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1980, 180 p.

Study of Baraka's poetry, prose, and drama.

Hudson, Theodore R. From LeRoi Jones to Amiri Baraka: The Literary Works. Durham: Duke University Press, 1973, 222 p.

Biographical and critical study of Baraka and his work.

Islam, Syed Manzoorul. 'The Ritual Plays of Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones)." Indian Journal of American Studies 14, No. 1 (January 1984): 43-55.

Describes ritualistic use of cruelty "with a graphic exactness that borders on repulsion," especially in the plays "Slave Ship," 'The Slave," and "Dutchman."

Marranca, Bonnie. "Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka)." In American Playwrights: A Critical Survey, edited by Bonnie Marranca and Gautam Dasgupta, pp. 121-33. New York: Drama Book Specialists, 1981.

Outlines the prevailing themes of Baraka's plays.

Sarma, M. Nagabhushana. "Revolt and Ritual in the Plays of LeRoi Jones." Osmania Journal of English Studies XI, No. 1 (1974-75): 1-9.

Discusses "Revolutionary Theatre" and Baraka's place in it.

Sollors, Werner. Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones: The Quest for a "Populist Modernism." New York: Columbia University Press, 1978, 299 p.

Sollors traces the development of Baraka's work through the four major political and aesthetic phases of his life.

Werner, Craig. "Brer Rabbit Meets the Underground Man: Simplification of the Consciousness in Baraka's "Dutchman" and "Slave Ship." Obsidian: Black Literature in Review 5, No. 1 & 2 (1979): 35-40.

Werner identifies a continuum in Baraka's drama in which "Dutchman" represents the failure of "obsessive comtemplations of contradictions and consciousness" as a reaction to stereotyping and white oppression. This failure necessitates a simplified reaction—"a clearly defined vision of the threat to black survival posed by a genocidal white world"—which is presented in "Slave Ship."

"DUTCHMAN"

Levesque, George A. "LeRoi Jones' 'Dutchman': Myth and Allegory." Obsidian: Black Literature in Review V, No. 3 (1979): 33-40.

The criticism of "Dutchman" is analyzed, supporting some of it and disagreeing with other conclusions.

Weisgram, Dianne H. "LeRoi Jones' 'Dutchman' : Inter-racial Ritual of Sexual Violence." American Imago 29, No. 3 (Fall 1972): 215-32.

Explores, indepth, the sexual roles of the lead characters in Baraka's famous play.

Additional coverage of Author's life and career is contained in the following sources published by Gale Research: Black Literature Criticism; Contemporary Authors, Vols. 21-24 (rev. ed.); Contemporary Authors Bibliographic Series, Vol. 3; Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, Vols. 27, 38; Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vols. 1, 2, 3, 5,10,14, 33; Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography 1941-1968; Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vols. 5, 7, 16, 38; Dictionary of Literary Biography Documentary Series, Vol. 8; Discovering Authors, Major 20th Century Writers; Poetry Criticism, Vol. 4.