POLITICAL EFFICACY AND POSTMODERN MULTIPLICITY IN ISHMAEL REED’S FLIGHT TO CANADA

American writer Ishmael Reed defends literature as a mechanism for effective
protest and a form of comment on American politics. In his early works, Reed used
postmodern aesthetics to destabilize common assumptions about race and politics. Today,
Reed continues to grapple with racial inequality, but he has shifted away from
postmodern fiction producing mostly essays and reviews. Reed’s use of various mediums
to protest political injustice blurs the line between politics and literature. In this thesis, I
will use a textual analysis of Reed’s novel Flight to Canada, interviews with Reed, and
literary criticism to argue that Reed utilizes the concept of multiplicity (the state of being
various) to impart a political message that adapts to changing political climates. In turn,
Reed’s work is intended to influence the reader’s sense of political efficacy by
emphasizing the political power of the individual.