Amiri Baraka | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 6 pages of analysis & critique of Amiri Baraka.

Amiri Baraka | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 6 pages of analysis & critique of Amiri Baraka.
This section contains 1,516 words
(approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Review by Barry Wallenstein

SOURCE: A review of Transbluency: The Selected Poems of Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones (1961–1995), in American Book Review, Vol. 17, No. 3, February-March, 1996, pp. 7, 30.

In the following review, Wallenstein provides a positive assessment of Transbluency.

Deeply political, Amiri Baraka writes poems that have bothered many, reflecting as they do his dream of revolution, where the social orders will be recast, the races realigned. Much of his work is topical, written for the moment, and, as with agitprop verse, it's run the danger of becoming an historical footnote. Perhaps to consciously counter this eventuality, Baraka has placed musicality at the center of his efforts as a poet. He has often stated his aesthetic or purpose: "The poetry I want to write is oral by tradition, mass aimed as its fundamental functional motive."

Paul Vangelisti, the editor of Transbluency, divides the selected poetry into three periods, the Beat, Black Nationalism, and, finally, Third...

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This section contains 1,516 words
(approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Review by Barry Wallenstein
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Critical Review by Barry Wallenstein from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.