Reckless Eyeballing
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.34 (995 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0850319935 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 148 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-02-18 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
"Why Aren't People Reading This Novel?" according to Oddsfish. The novel probably contains the best answer to that question within itself. Reckless Eyeballing is Ishmael Reed's satirical response the feminist movement which often (not always realizing it) has attempted to make its gains by vilifying black men and which has often worked to supress the voices of black men (like Reed himself--who is an excellent and under-read novelist).The plot itself is fairly difficult to describe because there are several plays within the novel that are important. The ma. Probes sore spots with comic vision RECKLESS EYEBALLING is an original, highly comic dispatch from the politicized culture wars of the 1980's that makes some very serious charges that should remain open for discussion nearly 20 years later. As the other reviewer says, why aren't more people reading this?The novel's title is the title of the protagonist's play. The narrator is Ian Ball, a playwright whose perspective as an African American male has been set upon by feminists. With the very real image of Ronald Reagan at the Bitbu. krebsman said Freewheeling black comedy. RECKLESS EYEBALLING is an odd book that on one level is brilliant, but on another is just a big mess. But it's a lot of fun however you characterize it. Ian Ball is a young black playwright in New York trying to maneuver his way around the minefield of political correctness. (This book was written in the 80s before the phrase came into widespread usage, however.) Everybody's got a cause, everybody's got a problem that they're blaming someone else for. He just wants to get his play produced. (T
. From Publishers Weekly A Jewish stage director is killed by a mob of anti-Semitic "Christians," a black female playwright flees the New York celebrity rat race, a young Caribbean playwright becomes a huge (but, he realizes, hollow) success, a masked black man shaves feminists' heads, an Archie Bunkerish Irishman sees the lightand yet nothing much seems to happen in Reed's (Mumbo Jumbo latest satire. There is one hilarious scene, however, concerning a play that seeks to rehabilitate Eva Braun (portrayed as a victim like everyone else). At the book's dreamy end, novelist-playwright-poet Reed seems to agree with Pogo: the enemy is us. Most of the book is devoted to long monologues by various characters against "the enemy": black men, black women, sexists, feminists, Jews, gentiles and occasional combinations. Copyright 1986 R
It's the 1980s and the politics of the New York theater scene have taken yet another turn.