Black Leopard, Red Wolf

Many stories told in Black Leopard, Red Wolf are not true. What is the relationship between storytelling and truth? Where, and why, do they intersect and diverge?

Written texts and sung verse are both italicized in James’s novel. How would you compare and contrast the different kinds of italicized texts—those read and those heard?

Orality plays a large role in Black Leopard, Red Wolf. How would you compare and contrast verbal sparring seen in dialogue with Tracker’s one-sided jabs at the unseen Inquisitor?