A Cipher of the Underground in Black Literary Culture

Abstract

In this chapter the concept of the cipher is an underground signifier for distinct discursive relationships in the works of Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Amiri Baraka, Thelonius Monk, Houston Baker, and KRS One. These discursive relationships center on tropological variations on the concept of the underground referenced in the work of the aforementioned artists as kiln holes, manhole/sewers, basements, the subway, hell, black holes, or the black (w)hole. The rich semantic content attributable to the word cipher in Standard English (SE) as well as in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) offers a unique way of reading the oft-cited genealogical conversation in Black Artistic production, which, in this case, converses/converges on the trope of the underground.¹ This interaction between Wright and others is discursive only in as much as one can discern the inner workings of distinct concepts of the underground as they are configured in the following texts: Richard Wright’s “Big Boy Leaves Home” and “The Man Who Lived Underground,” Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman and The System of Dante’s Hell, the grammy-award winning album cover art for Thelonius Monk’s Underground, Houston Baker’s “Black (W)hole” theory and KRS One’s storied rap titled “Hol(d).”