“He’s waiting to entertain you, and you know the rules: Give him a theme and he’ll take it from there. He’ll tell you stories, he’ll give you toasts as juicy as our good beef roasts. He’ll give you speeches, poems, and orations—hell, if you want it, he’ll even give you the United Nations, discord included. He’ll give you Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, he’ll give you Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois, he’ll give you Franklin Roosevelt, the Happy Warrior or the Sermon on the Mountain— but you know, and I know that that’s not why you came here to the Cave of Winds! So now the joint is yours to call the tune. (TBS, 864)
Through Buster’s introduction, Ellison presents Cliofus as a jazz performer who takes requests from an audience that is allowed the opportunity to “give him a theme” or “call the tune.” The introduction also foreshadows Cliofus’ ability as a storyteller to weave together different oral traditions like “speeches,” “poems,” and “toasts.” The “toast” is a form of storytelling that is described in Roger D. Abrahams’ folklore collection, Deep Down in the Jungle, as follows:
The toast is a narrative poem which is recited, often in a theatrical manner, and represents the greatest flowering of Negro verbal talent. Quite often they are long, lasting anywhere from two to ten minutes. They conform to a general, but by no means binding framing pattern. (Abrahams, 99)
Cliofus’ oral performance generally follows Abraham’s definition of the toast in that it is a “theatrical” and “recited” narration that is very long lasting. After Buster’s
introduction, members of the audience begin to call for different stories that they hope to hear Cliofus riff upon. These shouts lead a man in the audience to give the following off-handed comment, “And it serves you right…because after that you’ll be wanting to hear some juvenile crap like the Signifying Monkey! Every time a man comes in here to enjoy himself some of you clowns are asking Cliofus for that or for Shine! Hell, you need to go somewhere and get educated!” (TBS, 864). The man’s comment references two of the most well known characters from toasts in the African American oral tradition, who are commonly referenced to as “The Signifying
Monkey” and “Shine.” The fact that the man denounces the audience’s desire to hear these oft-recited stories shows that Cliofus is a performer of the toast who raises the art form to a level of complexity that goes beyond the conventions as represented by these stories. Cliofus’ style is made clearer through Buster’s
introduction, revealing that Cliofus has the ability to weave in discourses as complex as “the United Nations” and “Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois” into the form of the toast.
In her article, “The African American Toast Tradition,” Mona Lisa Saloy summarizes the general storyline of the well-known toast, “Shine and the Titanic”:
As is common in toasts, a narrator describes Shine's successful exploits, while Shine directly addresses the captain, his daughter, and the whale. Shine, the black stoker and hero of the toast, repeatedly warns the white captain of the impending disaster and humbly gives updates on the sinking ship. Even though Shine is ignored, hustled, and chased by a whale, he remains confident of his ability and determination. It is Shine alone who can save the day. (Saloy)
Cliofus draws on many motifs found in the toasts of “The Signifying Monkey” and “Shine,” including that of the “the whale” from “Shine and the Titanic.” Cliofus uses the whale in a very different context in his story recounting the adventures of an elementary school class as they take a field trip to see the petrified body of a sperm whale on display. Cliofus’ story about the whale reveals his ability to draw upon a wide variety of influences in his use of the form of the toast. The whale described in Cliofus’ story not only brings to mind the whale in Shine’s story, but also Melville’s infamous whale, Moby Dick. The elementary school class in Cliofus’ story runs into a strange man who gives the class a “lecture” “about the history and habits of the great sperm whale.” This man has a “short wooden leg,” smokes a “corncob pipe turned upside down,” is a self-proclaimed “bold harpooner,” and carries with him what “he
swears to be ambergris.” All of these characteristics present the man as a comical caricature of Ahab from Moby-Dick.
During the lecture given by this “pseudo-Ahab,” a boy in the class, Tyree, expresses his opinion on the man’s “ambergris” by saying, “ ‘Hey y’all’… ‘y’all can believe what you want to, but far’s I’m concered that there stuff ain’t nothing but whale puke! And I don’t care what that white man says about it!” (TBS, 882). Chapter 92 of Melville’s Moby-Dick, entitled “Ambergris,” describes the process by which an item present in sick whales, called ambergris, is extracted from their bodies and used in the production of perfumes.24 Through Cliofus, Ellison pokes fun at Melville’s novel by commenting that it is largely a “lecture” on “the great sperm whale,” and that it glorifies items like ambergris, which most people would think of as “whale puke.” This riff from Moby-Dick not only allows Ellison to once again pay homage to a foundational artist of “jazz/blues literature,” 25 but also to show that even Melville’s great novel is not above comical critique.
Along with his riffs upon literature, Cliofus constantly makes references to popular culture. These references range from naming a character after the famous African American boxer “Beau Jack” to using as a setting the Santa Fe train, Super Chief, that was known as “the train of the stars” because it famously transported celebrities from Chicago to Los Angeles (Grace). In the following passage, Cliofus describes the nature of his virtuosic ability with words:
“Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve heard it said that people misuse words, and I agree. But due to my condition, I’m forced to look a little deeper and recognize the fact that very often its words that misuse people. Because frequently when you think you are saying something which you intend to say, what comes out is what the
24
Moby-‐Dick, 363-‐364.
25See page 12 of this thesis.
words stored inside your head force you to say. And a good example of that is what happened to a piano player who claims that when he is in his liquor he doesn’t worry about how his music sounds because he leaves it up to his educated fingers, and that when his fingers take off he just sits back and goes along to wherever they take him.” (TBS, 866)
Cliofus equates his technique to that used by jazz players who attempt to reach a level of virtuosity through their practice, which allows them to separate themselves from their playing in order to observe their music from an outsider’s point of view. This conception of Cliofus sets him up as a virtuoso performer of the word who allows his “educated” words to take over in the same way that the musician allows his “educated fingers” to take over. This practice is evident in Cliofus’ ability to seamlessly weave into his routine references to popular culture, literature, the folk tradition, and jazz. In the same way that a jazz musician puts in the time to practice riffs from many different sources in order to bring them out during performances, Cliofus has developed a deep knowledge of cultural references, so that these references can effortlessly surface when Cliofus allows his words to take control.
Love New and Cliofus represent instruments through which Ellison raises two different oral traditions, Native American lying and African American toasts, to the level of a virtuosic performance. In both cases, this ability on the part of the performers is earned similarly to the way in which a jazz performer reaches new heights of virtuosity: through persistent practice and familiarity with the many riffs that can be heard and seen around them.