SOURCE: Martin, Reginald. “The FreeLance PallBearer Confronts the Terrible Threes: Ishmael Reed and the New Black Aesthetic Critics.” MELUS 14, no. 2 (summer 1987): 35-49.

In the following essay, Martin surveys the critical reaction to Reed's body of work as well as Reed's attitude toward his critics.

The only really committed artist is he, who, without refusing to take part in the combat, at least refuses to join the regular armies and remains a freelance.

—Albert Camus, Neither Victims Nor Executioners (1945)

Today I feel bearish I've just climbed out of A stream with a jerking Trout in my paw 

Anyone who messes with Me today will be hugged And dispatched. 

—Ishmael Reed, “Untitled,” in A Secretary to the Spirits (1976)

Ishmael Reed's battle with the new black aesthetic critics began early in his career. From the very start, he has disliked being categorized and seems to find it impossible to play the...