"To Da-duh, in Memoriam" was originally published in 1967. Although it drew the attention of a few early literary scholars, at that time Marshall had a relatively small audience. Lloyd W. Brown wrote in a 1974 article for Novel: A Forum on Fiction that such neglect is "unfortunate, because Paule Marshall's major themes are both significant and timely" and help to define the contemporary African American identity. In 1983, "To Da-duh, in Memoriam" was reissued and published in Marshall's collection Reena, and Other Stories . The story was often singled out, drawing much favorable attention from readers and critics. Writing in the Dictionary of Literary Biography, Carole Boyce Davies called it "one of the most skillful stories" in the collection. Over the years, critics have written about many different elements of this rich story. Brown has suggested that the musical and machine rhythms with which Marshall infuses "To Da-duh, in...