Soul on Ice (book)
| File:SOIcover.jpg First edition cover | |
| Author | Eldridge Cleaver |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Memoir |
| Publisher | Ramparts Press Inc. |
Publication date | 1968 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 214 pp |
| ISBN | 0-440-18163-1 |
Soul on Ice is a memoir and collection of essays by Eldridge Cleaver. Originally written in Folsom State Prison in 1965, and published three years later in 1968, it is Cleaver's best known writing and remains a seminal work in African-American literature.[1][2] The treatises were first printed in the nationally-circulated monthly Ramparts and became widely read for their illustration and commentary on Black America. Throughout his narrative, Cleaver describes not only his transformation from a marijuana dealer and serial rapist into a convinced Malcolm X adherent and Marxist revolutionary, but also his analogous relationship to the politics of America.[citation needed]
Background
Eldridge Cleaver was born in Wabbaseka, Arkansas, in 1935,[3] amidst the severe and unrepentant racism of the South. In 1946, his family moved to Watts, California, where the young Cleaver began delving into petty crime. After a series of arrests throughout his adolescence, in 1954, he was sent to Soledad State Prison for possession of marijuana. Though he was released within two years, later in 1957, he was convicted of sexual assault with intent to murder and was subsequently sent to San Quentin and then onto Folsom. While imprisoned at Soledad, Cleaver obtained his high school diploma and read the works of Thomas Paine, Richard Wright, Lenin, Machiavelli, Karl Marx, Voltaire, Malcolm X, and W. E. B. Du Bois.[4][5] When he arrived at Folsom, he began to regularly write freely upon the subject of his "social" and physical imprisonment and the events of the era; eight years later his lawyer, Beverly Axelrod, took the compositions to Ramparts and they were immediately published. After his release in December 1966, Cleaver was reporting for the magazine in San Francisco, and in 1968 Soul on Ice was released. The essays in Soul on Ice are divided in four thematic sections:[6]
- "Letters from Prison", describing Cleaver's experiences with and thoughts on crime and prisons;
- "Blood of the Beast", discussing race relations and promoting black liberation ideology;
- "Prelude to Love - Three Letters", Two love letters written to Cleaver's attorney, Beverly Axelrod and one written to Cleaver by Axelrod;
- "White Woman, Black Man", on gender relations, black masculinity, and sexuality.
Censorship
The book was one of eleven involved in Island Trees School District v. Pico, a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case. The books were removed from libraries or otherwise restricted by the board of education of the Island Trees Union Free School District in New York.[7]
See also
References
- ↑ Taylor, Michael (May 2, 1998). "Ex-Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver Dies / 'Soul on Ice' author, voice of black resistance was 62". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on March 23, 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
- ↑ Kifner, John (May 2, 1998). "Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther Who Became G.O.P. Conservative, Is Dead at 62". The New York Times. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
- ↑ Bailey, Jeff. "Leroy Eldridge Cleaver". The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
- ↑ Warren, Jennifer (May 2, 1998). "Former Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver Dies at 62". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
- ↑ Cleaver, Eldridge (1999). Soul on Ice. New York, New York: Delta. p. 31. ISBN 0-385-33379-X.
- ↑ Andrews, William L., Frances Smith. Foster, and Trudier Harris. The Oxford Companion to African American Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
- ↑ "Island Trees Sch. Dist. v. Pico by Pico 457 U.S. 853 (1982)". Justia. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
External links
- Guide to the Eldridge Cleaver Papers at The Bancroft Library
- "Cleaver, Eldridge". The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001–07