Explanation of The Novel's Title
The title of Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down summarizes both the literary and cultural messages of the novel. “Yellow Back” references the traditionally yellow covers of lurid dime Westerns and “Radio” references Reed’s strategy of writing the book in an oral, broadcast tradition. In a 1974 interview, Reed states that he “based the book on old radio scripts in which the listener constructed the sets with his imagination; that’s why “radio”; also because it’s an oral book, a talking book…there’s more dialogue than scenery or description.” The “broke-down” indicates a deconstruction of the traditional American Western novel. “Yellow Back Radio” can also be seen as symbolic of a media broadcasting traditional American values of capitalism and monotheism. The Loop Garoo Kid, bearing a strange religion from that “strange continent which serves as the subconscious of our planet” (152), uses Neohoodooism to “Break Down” this cultural broadcast.
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