Synopses & Reviews
This collection consists of essays written by prominent African American literature, jazz, and Albert Murray scholars, reminiscences from Murray protégés and associates, and interviews with Murray himself. It illustrates Murrays place as a central figure in African American arts and letters and as an American cultural pioneer. Born in Nokomis, Alabama, and raised in Mobile, Albert Murray graduated from Tuskegee University, where he later taught, but he has long resided in New York City. He is the author of many critically acclaimed novels, memoirs, and essay collections, among them The Omni-Americans, South to a Very Old Place, Train Whistle Guitar, The Spyglass Tree, and The Seven League Boots. He is also a critic and visual artist, as well as a lifelong friend of and collaborator with artistic luminaries such as Ralph Ellison, Duke Ellington, and Romare Bearden. As such, his life and work are testaments to the centrality of southern and African American aesthetics in American art. Murray is widely viewed as a figure who, through his art and criticism, transforms the “fakelore” of white culture into a new folklore that illustrates the centrality of the blues and jazz idioms and reveals the black vernacular as what is most distinct about American art.
Review
"[This book] makes a very important contribution to the field of African American literary and cultural studies. . . . It present[s] the many facets of Murray’s intellectual odyssey . . . [illuminating his] contribution to our national discussion on race, as well as his germinal insights on music, visual art, and literature."—Herman Beavers, author of Wrestling Angels into Song: The Fictions of Ernest J. Gaines and James Alan McPherson
Review
"I appreciated the way the voices ‘sound’ in the volume, from Murray’s own voice, through criticism, back to Murray in interviews, and on to other voices. It has the feeling of an ensemble—or, to use one of Mr. Murray’s metaphors, a jazz band, with Murray’s voice ‘taking the break’ at key points. The melody is Murray, and there are countless riffs on his work."—Carolyn J. Medine, coeditor of Teaching African American Religions
Synopsis
The first book-length study of the writings, work, and life of Renaissance man and Alabama native Albert Murray
Synopsis
The first book-length study of the writings, work, and life of Renaissance man and Alabama native Albert Murray This collection consists of essays written by prominent African American literature, jazz, and Albert Murray scholars, reminiscences from Murray prot g s and associates, and interviews with Murray himself. It illustrates Murray's place as a central figure in African American arts and letters and as an American cultural pioneer.
Born in Nokomis, Alabama, and raised in Mobile, Albert Murray graduated from Tuskegee University, where he later taught, but he has long resided in New York City. He is the author of many critically acclaimed novels, memoirs, and essay collections, among them The Omni-Americans, South to a Very Old Place, Train Whistle Guitar, The Spyglass Tree, and The Seven League Boots. He is also a critic and visual artist, as well as a lifelong friend of and collaborator with artistic luminaries such as Ralph Ellison, Duke Ellington, and Romare Bearden. As such, his life and work are testaments to the centrality of southern and African American aesthetics in American art. Murray is widely viewed as a figure who, through his art and criticism, transforms the "fakelore" of white culture into a new folklore that illustrates the centrality of the blues and jazz idioms and reveals the black vernacular as what is most distinct about American art.
About the Author
Barbara A. Baker is Director of the Women’s Leadership Institute and Associate Professor at Auburn University. She is the author of The Blues Aesthetic and the Making of American Identity in the Literature of the South. Anne-Katrin Gramberg is Professor of German and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University.