by Peter Bruck
still impresse d b y Olson' s theorie s a s t o ho w th e establishmen t
controls societ y throug h language : i n presentin g hi s argumen t
Baraka admits tha t h e i s "agai n paraphrasin g Olson." 21 Barak a
looks, naturally enough , toward th e creatio n o f a specifically blac k
mode o f expression , a kind o f "America n Dada," Ornett e Coleman
style: bu t i n 1964 , Olso n an d Ginsberg' s assaul t o n th e contem -
porary consciousnes s wa s somethin g Baraka could stil l readil y
identify with .
194
Something o f wha t Baraka meant was achieved in "The Scream-
ers" (1963 ) wher e a certain Lynn Hope leads a march of blacks on
Belmont Avenue . Althoug h Lyn n Hop e realize s fo r Baraka the
kind o f Blac k expressio n tha t migh t rou t th e lie s o f th e whit e
establishment o f Newark , "Th e Screamers " i s placed towar d th e
end o f Tales. "Th e Screamers " represent s th e victor y o f blac k
culture, wherea s "Th e Alternative " explore s the ambiguitie s tha t
proceed an d mak e suc h a victor y finally possible . A s regard s
jazz, Baraka clearly di d not need Olson, but for the exploration of
the possibilitie s o f ora l culture h e did . An d i t i s language in "The
Alternative" that i s important, as indeed elsewhere in Tales. It was
Olson's defenc e o f th e vernacula r a s th e carrie r o f a race's accu-
mulated wisdo m i n th e essay s o n "Projectiv e Verse " an d th e
"Letter t o Elain e Feinstein " tha t helped , i n grea t measure , t o
shape Baraka's own views.22
Olson's ow n pictur e o f languag e wa s tha t i t wa s specific. Th e
spoken word , unlik e th e written , ha d referenc e t o a particula r
context an d a particula r time . Th e method o f applyin g thi s idea
could lea d t o th e appearanc e o f confusion ; i n bein g tru e t o th e
local conditions , th e writer' s languag e woul d ten d t o kee p "al l
accompanying circumstance." 23 Still , th e inclusiv e characte r o f
such writin g wa s preferable t o th e exclusiv e characte r o f rational-
ism and its logic, which falsified th e nature of our sense experience
in a wa y whic h oralit y di d not . Fo r Olson , th e trut h o f sense -
perception wa s prio r t o th e fals e lucidit y o f a logical narrative; a
characteristic which , a s w e hav e seen , play s it s par t i n Tales. In
short, apparen t ambiguit y shoul d no t frighte n u s off, sinc e ambi-
guity and confusion ar e only tiresome to the rationalist.
In thi s sense, the character of Ray becomes easier to understand.
Baraka's use of languag e her e trie s to follow the sense-perceptions
and intuition s o f Ra y rather tha n hi s thought. The cold logic that
distorts th e orde r o f the human world is of secondary importance.
The language o f logi c is what organizes the whit e man's world fo r
him. And yet, language based on sense-experience names accurately
both person s an d places . Ray , fo r example , sees it a s his duty t o
name people , t o examin e th e her e an d now , t o watch . Al l thos e
things that th e "Highe r learning " tend s t o shu t u s off from , (con -
sider th e "wall " imager y tha t run s throughou t th e story , p . 7,
p. 19 , p . 26, p. 28), are summed u p in Ray' s responsibility: "Th e
leader's job .. . to mak e attentio n fo r th e place." (p. 7) The other
195
students neither kno w th e ambiguit y o f thei r conditio n (place) as
aspirants t o whit e society , nor d o the y shar e hi s ability t o name .
The tw o abilitie s o f placin g and namin g are reciprocal. As Olson
says i n hi s "Lette r t o Elain e Feinstein, " th e writer' s busines s i s
"landscape" o r th e accurac y wit h whic h h e relate s t o a give n
environment; only when his sense-perceptions are working properly
can he proceed to the next step, naming.24
Ray, w e wil l note , als o finds i t a par t o f hi s dut y t o assig n
names. Indeed, his friends exist for him as somewhat unsubstantial,
"floating empty nouns." (p. 11) Their speech is similarly devoid of
meaning, "thei r tal k (thes e nouns ) is bitter vegetable. " (p. 7) His
friends d o not share his ironic perception of what assigning a name
entails. Thu s Ray' s observatio n — "the y give , wha t h e has given
them. Names. " (p. 6) — which , despite its somewhat cryptic tone,
suggests tha t rea l identit y i s no t s o easily com e by . And s o Ray
lives among his ambiguities i n preferenc e t o th e lie s that invisibly
entangle his mates.
The loss of blac k identit y i s related t o a man's inability to fin d
the word s t o sa y wher e h e happen s t o be . Henc e fo r Ra y th e
meaning o f hi s fate depends on his being able to solve the problem
of place . Throughout Tales the problem of place and its definitio n
recurs. The agony of Ray in 'The Alternative" is repeated through-
out th e book : o n th e street s o f Newar k (" A Chas e Alighieri' s
Dream"), i n it s school s ("Th e Deat h o f Horati o Alger") , an d
finally in th e unhapp y realization in "No Body No Place" that the
white worl d denie s blac k identit y b y no t providin g a cultura l
context within which the black could begin to exist.
Ray's alienatio n fro m th e middle-clas s i s bes t pu t i n hi s ow n
words abou t hi s colleg e friends : "The y don' t di g completel y
where I' m at. " (p . 8) That th e vernacular can supply a clue to the
ambiguities o f blac k identit y come s out i n th e narrator' s accoun t
of Rick' s retur n fro m hi s victor y ove r hi s "D.C . Babes. " Whe n
Rick has finished paradin g his bogus manhood, the leader's frien d
Tom teases Rick about his sexual prowess:
Tom knew immediately where that bi t wa s at. And he pulled Rick into
virtual madnes s .. . lies at least. "Yeh , Rick Yeh? You mean you got a
little Jones, huh? Was it good?'' (Tom pulls on Rick's sleeve like Laurel
and Rick swings.) (p. 10)
Here th e ora l mod e reveal s th e truth . Th e narrato r record s no t
196
only wha t wa s said and how, but also the dynamics of the scene —
the accompanyin g gestures . Ric k stand s now revealed and another
friend, Dic k Smith , deliver s th e las t blo w wit h th e ironi c com -
pliment o f "O.K . you'r e bad. " (p . 10 ) Baraka's confidence tha t
hip jargo n ca n morall y "place " o r evaluat e Rick' s performanc e
recalls th e jaunt y conclusio n t o Olson' s "Lette r t o Elain e Fein -
stein," wher e h e wrote : "T o animat e the scene today: wow: You
say 'orientat e me.' Yessir . Place it.!"25
If, a s we saw, Baraka subordinates hi s hero and narrative to the
interests o f place, he doe s so in accord with a new theory of com-
position tha t derive s als o fro m th e sam e "Lette r t o Elain e Fein -
stein." Olso n had suggested the re-arrangement of the conventional
structure o f pros e o r verse in whic h thing s like narrative, plot and
hero woul d b e less important tha n th e physica l contex t in which
the actio n too k place. 26 Baraka' s narrator, Ray , follow s thi s
advice onl y t o fin d ou t tha t a black i
s "without caus e of place. "
(p. 18 ) Ray' s discover y i s no t withou t interest . Whe n he finally
reaches th e thir d floo r o f Park Hall , Ra y can convert the meaning
that highe r educatio n ha s fo r hi m int o historica l terms . Th e
message of th e nineteenth centur y benevolen t traditio n which led
to th e foundin g o f Howar d Universit y expresse s the white ethic :
"Be clean, thrifty, and responsible." (p. 22)
Ray's defeat a t th e hand s of Ric k should be read in the light of
this. Ra y ha s bee n portraye d a s dirty , "eac h foo t i n nee d o f
washing," (p. 5) and opposed to the "authority o f the social grace"
(p. 15 ) on whic h white power rests. Ray even sits masturbating on
his be d befor e goin g upstair s t o fac e Rick . (p. 25) Educatio n i n
white Americ a fo r suc h a black creates the same moral confusion s
that Herma n Melvill e ha d explore d i n hi s account o f growing up
under th e nineteent h centur y ethi c o f benevolenc e i n hi s boo k
Pierre: Or the Ambiguities. I t i s not fo r nothin g tha t Baraka will
use a quotation fro m thi s book as an introduction t o a later study
of a blac k man' s mora l dilemma s i n hi s stor y fro m Tales called
"Going Down Slow" (p. 49)
Why Pierre: Or the Ambiguities appeale d s o strongly to Baraka
and t o Olso n i s fairl y obvious. 27 Fo r them , Melvill e ha d show n
how th e mora l hypocris y o f Americ a coul d b e revealed throug h
the conflic t betwee n hi s youn g hero' s perception o f lif e an d th e
moral cod e o f th e day . Again, it wa s Charles Olson wh o was the
Melville expert, it was he who had explored the crippling effects o f
197
Christianity o n Melville' s creativ e power s i n hi s boo k Call me
Ishmael (1948) . Wha t Olso n ma y hav e sai d t o Baraka about thi s
book, w e canno t a s ye t know . W e ca n see how th e perceptions o f
Melville's Pierre i n penetratin g th e ambiguitie s o f 19t h centur y
benevolism relat e t o Ra y i n "Th e Alternative. " W e ca n fin d i n
Pierre th e sam e us e o f Dante' s techniqu e o f a mora l landscap e
adapted t o a worl d i n whic h mora l value s ca n n o longe r be estab -
lished wit h Dante' s kin d o f authority. 28
In th e characte r o f Ray , Baraka seeks t o embod y hi s hostilit y
to th e valu e o f th e rationa l abstraction s o f th e whit e ethic . Blac k
expression, a s h e ha s insiste d i n s o man y o f hi s essays, demands a
live, emotiona l respons e t o experience . Th e purita n fea r o f se x
inherited b y whit e Protestan t Americ a i s symptomatic o f it s pre -
ference fo r though t ove r sensation, the mind ove r the body. 29 Ra y
remains a t al l time s awar e o f hi s body , h e trie s t o give expressio n
to a different for m o f experience in which "al l move, from fles h t o
love. Fro m lov e t o flesh. " (p . 20 ) Ray' s immediat e environmen t
reflects onl y asceticism . Jaz z is discarded s o that th e student s ma y
remain "whit e an d featureles s unde r thi s roof. " (p . 23 ) Ray' s
fellow student s wande r aimlessl y t o hi s min d lik e "dea d souls "
(p. 22 ) i n a n asceti c purgatory , whose walls Ray dream s of scalin g
to enter a different land .
And ye t escape , eve n fo r Ray , woul d b e difficult . Th e leader' s
mind stil l remain s filled b y th e idealize d virgi n o f whit e poetry ,
who embodie s fo r Baraka the abstrac t cas t o f wester n values . Ra y
quotes fro m Richar d Lovelace' s poem , "T o Lucast a goin g t o th e
Warres," an d find s it has a little relevanc e t o his situation as Robert
Herrick's, "T o Anthea , Wh o Ma y Comman d Hi m Anything. "
These desexualized ladie s seem t o exis t outsid e o f any real physica l
context. Ray' s derisiv e attitud e t o the m reflect s Baraka's own,
such image s fro m th e idea l worl d o f white s creat e onl y image s of
effete weaknes s i n hi s eyes : "eve n whit e homosexua l poet s spea k
of Th e Lady , wh o i s generall y never suppose d t o b e popped , b y
nobody."30 Ra y reflects o n whit e literature a s follows :
As, "Tel l m e not , Sweet , I am unkind,/Tha t fro m th e nunnery/O f th y
chaste breast and quiet mind/To war arms I fly."
"You talkin g abou t a lightweight mammy-tapper, boy, you really king."
"Oh, Lucasta , fin d m e here o n the bed with hard pecker and dirty feet .
Oh, I suffer, in my green glasses, under the canopy of my loves, (p. 18)
198
In a simila r way , Charle s Olso n looke d t o anothe r culture , th e
Mayan, for evidence of a true physical response toward experience:
"The marke d thin g abou t the m is , tha t i t i s only lov e and fles h
which seem s to carr y thei r antecedence." 31 Olson' s discussio n in-
cludes th e poin t tha t physica l contac t betwee n me n in America is
shunned, th e fea r o f bein g called homosexual reflects their deeper
fear of the body itself.
Ray's respect for the body, then, leads him to defend th e homo-
sexual ac t o f Bobb y Hutchens fro m th e gaz e o f his friends. I t is
not a defence o f homosexualit y bu t a realizatio n tha t th e blac k
middle-class student s se e their own weakness and crime in this act.
Bobby Hutchen s serve s merel y a s th e scapegoa t o f thei r privat e
fears a t bein g emasculate d b y thei r entr y int o th e blac k middle-
class world.
Only one writer seems to survive Ray's contempt for the western
literary tradition , hi s ol d favourit e Federic o Garci a Lorca. 32 Th e
refrain fro m Lorca' s well-know n poem , "Romanc e sonambulo, "
"Verde qu e t e quier o verde, " i s constantl y o n Ray' s lips . Th e
quality o f thi s Spaniard' s richl y sensuou s appreciation o f life , hi s
love o f th e bod y an d acceptanc e o f death , for m th e literar y
stimulus o f Ray' s dream s of expressin g hi s perceptual world . Part
of Ray' s revol t i s hi s habit o f wearin g green glasse s a s a kind o f
ironically sa d tribut e t o Lorca' s ow n effor t t o creat e a green an d
living world. Throughou t th e story the quality of the light seen by
the student s an d see n b y Ra y i s contrasted: "The y si t around , i n
real light . Th e leade r in hi s green glasses, fidgeting with his joint."
(p. 11 ) Th e litera l darknes s o f th e nigh t wit h whic h th e stor y
begins leads Ra y t o questions as to his own "flesh," t o his cultural
allegiance to the memory of black tradition:
The leader sits straddling the bed, and the night, though innocent, blinds
him. (Who is our flesh. Our lover, marched from where we sit now sweating
and remembering. Old man, find me, who am your only blood, (p. 5)
Years earlie r Olson' s ow n ques t fo r a more accurat e traditio n o f
sense-perception ha d le d hi m t o muc h th e sam e sourc e "th e
Mediterranean/man." I t wa s no t Lorc a bu t Columbu s t o who m
Olson turned . Columbus ' descriptio n o f th e Carribea n i s used b y
Olson i n The Maximus Poems in the same way as Baraka draws on
Lorca's vision in "The Alternative." These men note the greeness of
the landscape , thei r lovin g attentio n t o th e co
lour , sound , an d
199
smell measures the fullness of their response. The failure of abstract
thought to relate man to Nature is implicit in the following :
"Always the land
was of the same beauty,
and the fields
very green"
The Isles
of the Very Green.33
The island s of th e Carribea n remin d Olso n o f th e Cyclades , or as
the Frenc h cal l them , "Les Isles de la Tres Verte." In short , th e
attention pai d t o gree n b y thes e variou s writers is used by Baraka
and Olso n alik e a s an admirable alternative to the cold language of
rational expression . Baraka's Ray seek s to fin d hi s way in Lorca's
poetry ou t o f hi s dark walle d cell , but i s barred b y th e word s of
Lovelace, "A wall. O Lucasta." (p. 20)
Ray' struggl e t o giv e expression t o th e blac k experienc e i s not
easy, an d ye t i t i s centra l t o a n understandin g o f Baraka's later
prose. These ar e Baraka's stylistic beginning s set in fictional form .
As he points ou t i n his essay-tale entitle d "Ne w Sense," the name
Ray wa s on e Baraka had reserve d fo r himself , (p . 96) Althoug h
Ray-Baraka i s n o nobl e Odysseus-Columbu s person a — "sailin g
around th e stupi d seas " (p. 96) — hi s indebtedness t o th e literar y
theories availabl e i n th e post-Poun d er a o f th e fiftie s an d t o
Charles Olson in particular needs recognizing.34 Ra y may very well
be connecte d b y a "vector " (p . 8 ) t o suc h a n exponen t o f th e
black traditio n as he takes his friend, th e jazz-man Jimmy Lassiter ,
to be . Bu t Ray-Baraka' s "vector " i s itsel f borrowe d fro m th e
"Letter t o Elain e Feinstein." Olson's examination o f the nature of
the America n vernacula r a s a mediu m fo r writin g was , i n part ,
addressed t o th e Baraka group and its "friends fro m th e American
Underground;" b y vector Olso n mean t the line of emotional forc e
between ma n an d hi s environment , whil e Baraka interprets i t a s
the lin k between a black man and his culture.35 Barak a saw, better
than an y other writer at this time, what could be done with Olson's
language theories in terms of the black writer.
In th e beginnin g o f thei r relationship , Baraka and Olso n wer e