The shadow and the act : black intellectual practice, jazz improvisation, and philosophical pragmatism / Walton M. Muyumba.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Muyumba, Walton M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ellison, Ralph--Criticism and interpretation.

Ellison, Ralph.

Baldwin, James, 1924-1987--Criticism and interpretation.

Baldwin, James.

Baraka, Amiri, 1934---Criticism and interpretation.

Baraka, Amiri.

American literature--African American authors--History and criticism.

American literature.

Jazz in literature.

Jazz--History and criticism.

Jazz.

Improvisation (Music).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (230 p.)

Place of Publication:

Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Though often thought of as rivals, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Amiri Baraka shared a range of interests, especially a passion for music. Jazz, in particular, was a decisive influence on their thinking, and, as The Shadow and the Act reveals, they drew on their insights into the creative process of improvisation to analyze race and politics in the civil rights era. In this inspired study, Walton M. Muyumba situates them as a jazz trio, demonstrating how Ellison, Baraka, and Baldwin's individual works form a series of calls and responses with each other. Muyumba

Contents:

Introduction: vamping til ready

Movement I: Three ways of looking at a yardbird: Charlie Parker and the theorization of jazz improvisation in the work of Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Le Roi Jones/Amiri Baraka

Movement II: Black is, black ain't: violence, black masculinity, and the novel as democratic symbol

Movement III: Cutting session: Baldwin as intellectual prizefighter, Baldwin as improvising intellectual

Movement IV: Improvising over the changes: improvisation as intellectual and aesthetic practice in the transitional poems of Le Roi Jones/Amiri Baraka

Coda.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9786612239816

9781282239814

1282239813

9780226554259

0226554252

OCLC:

434595849