Black Male Studies in Literature: Ishmael Reed's and Richard Wright's Early Analyses of the “Man‐Not” avant la lettre

ABSTRACT In the absence of an honest and rigorous research program to understand the conditions of Black males, negative stereotypes and pernicious caricatures persist. The relatively new field of Black Male Studies introduces a lens through which to evaluate past and present characterizations and inferences, as well as a set of tools for producing useful proposals that do not presume caricaturizing pathologies. Inquiries begin from two basic premises. First, Black men and boys are, in fact, disadvantaged because of their maleness. Second, contrary to a few cultural and scholarly currents, Black men and boys are “human.” In this short piece, I will examine two works of fiction, which I propose to include within the developing canon of Black Male Studies literature and scholarship. Richard Wright's short story, “Big Black Good Man,” which anticipates the “formidability representation hypothesis.” I also examine Ishmael Reed's satirical novel, Reckless Eyeballing (1986). Ultimately, I will argue that Reed's narrative performatively proffers two insightful and invaluable criteria for evaluating depictions of Black men that parallel the interventions of Curry's The Man‐Not . I characterize these criteria as truthfulness and beauty .