Synopses & Reviews
In From the Briarpatch File—a gathering of erudite, provocative, and iconoclastic essays, reviews, and interviews—Albert Murray approaches contemporary America through its artistic expressions of itself and through the inventiveness of his own thinking and experience. He writes about New York in the 1920s and about the beginnings of his career as a writer. He gives us profound assessments of the achievements of Duke Ellington and William Faulkner. He outlines the responsibilities of the black educated elite and discusses the near-tragic, near-comic essence of the blues. His subject is no less than the life of America today; the clarity and the singularity of his vision, thought, and language are no less than stunning.
Synopsis
Murray is "an all-purpose, all-American literary intellectual." In "From the Briarpatch File, " he writes as engagingly about "New York in the Twenties" as about the beginnings of his career as a writer. He is as profound in his assessment of the achievement of Duke Ellington as in his appreciation of William Faulkner. He is as provocative in his outline of the responsibilities of the black educated elite as in his discourses on the near-tragic, near-comic essence of the blues.
About the Author
Albert Murray was born in Nokomis, Alabama, in 1916. He was educated at Tuskegee Institute, where he later taught literature and directed the college theater. He is the author of many works of fiction and nonfiction, including The Seven League Boots, The Blue Devils of Nada, and The Spyglass Tree. He lives in New York City.