A drop of patience / William Melvin Kelley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kelley, William Melvin, 1937-2017, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African American musicians--Fiction.

African American musicians.

Blind musicians.

Blind musicians--Fiction.

Genre:

Fiction.

Novels.

Physical Description:

227 pages ; 21 cm

Edition:

First Anchor Books edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Anchor Books, 2020.

Summary:

One of the great jazz novels of any era, A Drop of Patience tells the story of a blind horn player's journey through the themes of race, blindness, and music.At the age of five, Ludlow Washington is given up by his parents to a brutal white-run state institution for blind African American children, where everyone is taught music--the only trade by which they are expected to make a living. Ludlow is a prodigy on the horn and at fifteen is "purchased" out of the Home by a bandleader in the fictive Southern town of New Marsails. By eighteen he is married with a baby daughter, but as his reputation spreads he seeks to grow musically, leaving his budding family for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in New York City. Navigating the worlds of music and race and women, Ludlow's career follows an arc towards collapse, a nervous breakdown, recovery, a long-delayed public recognition, only for him to finally abandon the spotlight and return to his roots and find solace in the black church. A Drop of Patience is a brilliant portrayal of a jazz musician. It stands apart as an exemplary parable of African American history, of racial politics, and of musical creative genius.

ISBN:

9781984899316

1984899317

OCLC:

1178768460

Publisher Number:

99985375393