Delano Greenidge-copprue

American Humors: Reading Jazz in United States Literature Delano Greenidge-copprue

Herman Melville''s Moby-Dick a jazz novel? NathanielHawthorne as playful as Charlie Bird Parker? MarkTwain and Ralph Ellison trading twelves, across thegulf of time, on the "American" character? These arejust some of the questions explored in AmericanHumors. Beginning with Hawthorne and ending with ToniMorrison, this book offers a jazz-inflected tourof the literary history of the United States. Alongthe way, we see how American writers extend theachievements of their literary ancestors; we see thewell-springs of the creative process; we see how theinsistence upon improvisation becomes the foundationfor a national art form and way of life. With thenineteenth-century American Renaissance and thetwentieth-century Harlem Renaissance serving asbookends, American Humors investigates the variedhues and frequencies of art and experience in theUnited States and the global context.