A CASEBOOK STUDY OF ISHMAEL REED’S
YELLOW BACK RADIO BROKE-DOWN

EDITED BY PIERRE-DAMIEN MVUYEKURE
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Dalkey Archive Press Casebook Study Series
Robert L. McLaughlin, Managing Editor
© Center for Book Culture, 2003
All rights reserved
www.centerforbookculture.org

A Casebook Study of Ishmael Reed’s
Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down
Edited by Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure
http://www.dalkeyarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/YellowBackCasebook.pdf

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: “Scatting Arbitrarily” and Blowing Hoodoo
[Western] like Charlie “Bird” Parker: Loop Garoo’s Be-bop/
HooDoo Improvisations in Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down
PIERRE-DAMIEN MVUYEKURE................................................ 1
Westward Migration, Narrative, and Genre in African America
DAVID G. NICHOLLS ............................................................. 32
The Borg, Conjure, and Voodoo: An Analysis of Yellow Back
Radio Broke-Down
SCHARRON A. CLAYTON ....................................................... 51
Regeneration through Neo-Hoodooism: Yellow Back Radio
Broke-Down and Ishmael Reed’s Mythogenesis
AIMABLE TWAGILIMANA ...................................................... 88
Selected Bibliography ................................................................. 115

Notes on Contributors................................................................. 119