LeRoi Jones and the Tradition of the Fake

LeRoi Jones and the Tradition of the Fake

LeRoi Jones has already had more attention, more production of plays, more publication, more criticism and news comment than—at any less opportune moment—he could conceivably merit. But one aspect of his work and persona seems worth further analysis, hopefully as counteraction. This is his place in the Tradition of the Fake.

This tradition, to me, is one in which a writer preaches violence, revolution, anarchism—total action—against his society, while he lives and works cozily ...