The Satire of Ishmael Reed - From Non-standard Sexuality to Argumentation – Šalamoun Jiří (2019)

The Satire of Ishmael Reed: From Non-Standard Sexuality to Argumentation. This book focuses on the work of African American writer Ishmael Reed and examines how the way the author employs satire has evolved throughout his fifty-year novelistic career. Although each of Reed's novels is an original literary work, certain regularities and developmental trends can be found in the application of satire. While Reed's early satire predominantly features social criticism based on the depiction of non-standard sexuality, his more contemporary satire (referring to the author's novels from 1993 onwards) is dominated by social criticism based on argumentation. These modes of satire are further connected in the book to two types of American racism: overt and covert racism. The book demonstrates that as overt racism has become unacceptable in American social discourse and has been replaced by covert racism, Ishmael Reed has updated his satire to remain an effective mode of social criticism. The book is intended for readers from both academic and general audiences who are interested in Ishmael Reed's work and African American literature in general. It may also be inspiring for those interested in the genre of satire and its development.