Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note

E851784

book poetry collection

"Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note" is the debut poetry collection by Amiri Baraka (then LeRoi Jones), known for its innovative, jazz-influenced verse and its exploration of race, identity, and existential despair in mid-20th-century America.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (2)

Label	Occurrences
Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note canonical	2
Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note (poem)	2

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T10264554 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note
Context triple: [Imamu Amiri Baraka, notableWork, Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note]

A. Suicide Slum
Suicide Slum is a notoriously impoverished and crime-ridden neighborhood in DC Comics' Metropolis, often depicted as one of the city's roughest and most downtrodden districts.
B. Diary of a Madman
"Diary of a Madman" is a dark, horrorcore hip-hop track by the group Gravediggaz, known for its eerie production and macabre, narrative-driven lyrics.
C. Diary of a Madman
"Diary of a Madman" is a landmark 1918 short story by Lu Xun that pioneered modern Chinese vernacular fiction and powerfully critiques feudal society through the paranoid perspective of its mad narrator.
D. The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death
"The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death" is a 1987 indie pop album by British band The Housemartins, noted for its jangly guitar sound and socially and politically charged lyrics.
E. The Day I Tried to Live
"The Day I Tried to Live" is a 1994 grunge/alternative rock song by Soundgarden, known for its dark, introspective lyrics and dynamic, heavy sound.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note
Target entity description: "Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note" is the debut poetry collection by Amiri Baraka (then LeRoi Jones), known for its innovative, jazz-influenced verse and its exploration of race, identity, and existential despair in mid-20th-century America.

A. Suicide Slum
Suicide Slum is a notoriously impoverished and crime-ridden neighborhood in DC Comics' Metropolis, often depicted as one of the city's roughest and most downtrodden districts.
B. Diary of a Madman
"Diary of a Madman" is a landmark 1918 short story by Lu Xun that pioneered modern Chinese vernacular fiction and powerfully critiques feudal society through the paranoid perspective of its mad narrator.
C. Diary of a Madman
"Diary of a Madman" is a dark, horrorcore hip-hop track by the group Gravediggaz, known for its eerie production and macabre, narrative-driven lyrics.
D. The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death
"The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death" is a 1987 indie pop album by British band The Housemartins, noted for its jangly guitar sound and socially and politically charged lyrics.
E. The Day I Tried to Live
"The Day I Tried to Live" is a 1994 grunge/alternative rock song by Soundgarden, known for its dark, introspective lyrics and dynamic, heavy sound.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (43)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	book ⓘ poetry collection ⓘ
associatedWith	Greenwich Village literary scene ⓘ avant-garde poetry ⓘ
author	Amiri Baraka ⓘ LeRoi Jones ⓘ linked to: Amiri Baraka
containsPoem	Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note (poem) ⓘ linked to: Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note
countryOfOrigin	United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
criticalReception	acclaimed in avant-garde circles ⓘ
debutWorkOf	Amiri Baraka ⓘ
explores	Black subjectivity ⓘ personal relationships ⓘ political consciousness ⓘ religious doubt ⓘ
firstEditionFormat	paperback ⓘ
genre	poetry ⓘ
hasForm	free verse ⓘ
hasMedium	print ⓘ
historicalSignificance	early example of Baraka’s fusion of jazz and poetry ⓘ precursor to Black Arts Movement aesthetics ⓘ
influencedBy	bebop ⓘ jazz ⓘ
language	English ⓘ
literaryMovement	Beat generation ⓘ Black Arts Movement ⓘ
mainTheme	African American identity ⓘ alienation ⓘ existential despair ⓘ race ⓘ spiritual crisis ⓘ urban life ⓘ
period	mid-20th century ⓘ
publicationYear	1961 ⓘ
publisher	Corinth Books ⓘ Totem Press ⓘ
setting	United States in the 1950s ⓘ
styleCharacteristic	colloquial language ⓘ improvisational rhythm ⓘ irony ⓘ surreal imagery ⓘ
subjectOf	literary criticism on African American poetry ⓘ scholarship on Beat-era poetics ⓘ
titlePoem	Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note (poem) ⓘ linked to: Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Imamu Amiri Baraka → notableWork → Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note ⓘ

Everett LeRoi Jones → notableWork → Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note ⓘ

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note → containsPoem → Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note (poem) ⓘ

linked to: Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note → titlePoem → Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note (poem) ⓘ