[Review of] Toni Morrison. Jazz

Authors

Cortland P. Auser

Orginal Publication Date

1992

Journal Title

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Volume

12

Issue

ess/vol12/iss1

First Page

41

Last Page

41

Abstract

Francis Davis, writing about jazz in the Atlantic Monthly (August 1988, p.71), defined it as "a protean music with a sense of manifest destiny." I personally feel this definition may be well used to accurately describe Morrison's latest fiction. Stylistically and structurally it is a masterpiece, for mood and mode match. The stories about its main characters are told in the book's sections, and yet the sections are interwoven because of the interrelationships of these characters. In each such section time past and present are also interwoven in a "seamless" way. The lyricism of many of the passages spoken by the fiction's personae allows for these appropriate changes from character to character, to telling persona and back again. This reader was not lost, for as the stories progressed, I sensed the direction the passages were heading and the destinies toward which "the actors" were manifestly heading.

Rights

Copyright, ​©EES, The National Association for Ethnic Studies, 1992