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Robert G. O'Meally

Teoksen The Jazz Cadence of American Culture tekijä

11+ teosta 188 jäsentä 2 arvostelua

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Image credit: Faculty image from Columbia University

Tekijän teokset

Associated Works

Huckleberry Finnin seikkailut (1884) — Johdanto, eräät painokset42,715 kappaletta
Amerikkalaisen orjan omaelämäkerta (1845) — Johdanto, eräät painokset9,210 kappaletta
Masters of American Music (2011) — Ohjaaja — 1 kappale

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Antagonistic Cooperation: Jazz, Collage, Fiction, and the Shaping of African American Culture by Robert O'Meally makes a convincing and very entertaining argument for this particular characteristic most often associated with jazz being a far more important factor in African American arts and letters.

It took me longer than I expected to finish this book for a couple of reasons. One was simply the fact that taking my time, pausing often to think about the examples (and reread other works, listen to some music, look up some art) made a slower read far more rewarding. The other main reason is that a couple of other books I read while reading this one led me back to this concept and made me reread parts of this book again. Reading a new anthology of Zora Neale Hurston's essays and reviews had me bouncing back and forth between books. To a lesser degree the same held true for a biography of Lorraine Hansberry I was also reading.

In establishing the idea of antagonistic cooperation as he uses it O'Meally doesn't just show the process in jazz jam sessions, or even similar examples from other areas of life, he also cites thinkers, writers, and artists from throughout history. This is not to imply that twentieth century African American cultural use of AC is no more than a continuation of what came before. He shows that the idea, broadly speaking, has been mentioned before or at least hinted at without forming a complete concept. In other words, at its core it is an important element in much art through time. What makes it different and so much more of an intentional and important aspect here has to do with the history of Blacks in America, how displaying this friendly (for the most part) aggressiveness helped not only the ones playing but the community as a whole. Creating a space for unfettered creativity and freedom, often in a space and form that whites didn't understand or appreciate, at least not at first.

The previous paragraph is part of my takeaway from this first reading and I hope I didn't misrepresent O'Meally's argument. But even if I am less than perfectly accurate in my understanding so far my comments should illustrate a far more important aspect of the work. This book made me think, made me want to understand better by putting it in my words so that I could use these ideas to gain better perspective on future works I will read, listen to, look at, and watch. I am also far more curious about process now. I have always been interested in what happens where art meets society, but I have often been focused on the reception of that art. This has me wanting to revisit old ideas I have had and approach them from a different perspective.

More than anything, I simply enjoyed reading this book. I can't even say that about many of my favorite nonfiction books. I enjoy what I learned, I enjoy applying ideas I learned, but I don't necessarily enjoy the actual reading of the book. I not only know that I will be reading this one again but I am looking forward to it. And I also know that I will be referring to it often when I am reading other books.

I highly recommend this to both academics and nonacademics who are interested in the arts in general, African American arts in particular, and especially the intersection of that art with society as a whole. This offers something for those in specific fields such as literature, music, and art but is ideal for someone in area studies.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
… (lisätietoja)
 
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pomo58 | Sep 30, 2021 |
"A Picasso or a Miró will use Spanish background and culture—this is what they grew up with, it is a source of strength to them. But we must remember that people other than Spaniards can appreciate Goya, people other than Chinese can appreciate a Sung landscape, and people other than Negroes can appreciate a Benin bronze...An artist is an art lover who finds that in all the art that he sees, something is missing: to put there what he feels is missing becomes the center of his life's work." (Romare Bearden)

Between 1945 and 1948 the acclaimed African American artist Romare Bearden created four solo series of paintings based on written texts: The Passion of the Christ in the New Testament, the poem Lament for a Bullfighter by Federico Garcia Lorca, a series of poems by the 16th century French writer François Rabelais, and Homer's Iliad. He sought to visually illuminate the mythical figures represented in these works, and to give them a universal appeal and relevance to a society traumatized by war abroad and turmoil at home.

Three decades later, Bearden returned to this idea by creating a series of 20 collages based on his interpretation of the hero of The Odyssey as a black warrior/blues man who embarks on a long and trying search for home, overcoming numerous obstacles but bolstered by female lovers and mother figures who guide him to his ultimate destination, where his wife Penelope awaits him.

Bearden puts his own spin on the Greek epic, as he draws parallels with Ithaca and Harlem and with the quest of Odysseus and his men and slaves and freedmen who must navigate a migration to a place of acceptance and comfort, while many lose their way. In his view The Odyssey is a tale that that should be read and appreciated by all, and his series is an effort to extract Homer from the ivory towers of academia: "It's universal. So if a child in Benin or Louisiana...sees my paintings of Odysseus, he can understand the myth better."

In this companion catalog that was shown in several galleries and museums, including the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University, where I saw it, the exhibition's curator Robert G. O'Malley, the Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, significantly enhances the viewer's understanding and appreciation of Bearden's overall effort, in an essay at the beginning of the book, and in his subsequent interpretations of each collage, as a full page image of each work is paired with O'Meally's comments about it, and the artist. I gained a new appreciation for the series thanks to O'Meally's insight, and those who were unable to see this exhibition in person would have almost the same experience by reading this excellent catalog, which is a worthwhile addition to the written word about this essential artist.
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kidzdoc | Jun 27, 2019 |

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Tilastot

Teokset
11
Also by
3
Jäseniä
188
Suosituimmuussija
#115,783
Arvio (tähdet)
3.9
Kirja-arvosteluja
2
ISBN:t
24
Kielet
1

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