This Poem is a Outlaw: The Demonic Inversion of Justice in Ishmael Reed's Beware: Do Not Read this Poem

15 Pages Posted: 12 Apr 2016

See all articles by Jeffrey Miller

Jeffrey Miller

McGill University (Law-2014); Western Univ. (Law-2009-12); Law and Justice Research Centre

Date Written: April 2, 2016

Abstract

In literature the supernatural or metaphysical is often meant to work justice where it seems otherwise unavailable. The justice accomplished is poetic, employing metaphor because the physical, fallen (literal) world comes up short in that regard. One way of reading Ishmael Reed’s celebrated poem "beware: do not read this poem" is as a demonic inversion of this use of the supernatural to impose justice. If there is justice at work in the poem, it is from an underworld, or at least underclass, point of view – in Reed’s vernacular, a Neo-HooDoo view.

Keywords: Ishmael Reed, law and literature, myth criticism, Neo-HooDoo, modern poetry

Suggested Citation

Miller, Jeffrey, This Poem is a Outlaw: The Demonic Inversion of Justice in Ishmael Reed's Beware: Do Not Read this Poem (April 2, 2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2762295 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2762295

Jeffrey Miller (Contact Author)

McGill University (Law-2014); Western Univ. (Law-2009-12) ( email )

3644 Peel Street
Montreal, Quebec H3A 1W9
Canada

Law and Justice Research Centre ( email )

Toronto, Ontario
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://jeffreymiller.ca

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