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samantha_shain's review against another edition
4.0
I read this as part of a larger collected edition of Ellison's essays. I tremendously appreciated his candor and his nuance - I can only imagine that it was just as difficult then as it is now to complicate the reductive mainstream ideas about race and American culture. I found the book uneven in quality. Some essays, like "Living with Music" were instant favorites. Others felt dull or repetitive - perhaps they would have been more exciting if first encountered in a periodical, however when put in dialogue with other essays making a similar point, some of the magic was lost. The book was loosely organized into three sections: one on literacy criticism, one on jazz, and the third on cultural criticism. In general, I recommend for anyone interested in reading not the "same old, same old" about race and anyone who enjoys a scholarly voice.
abbydee's review against another edition
I am really here because I wanted to read about music, but not averse at all to reading some book reviews along the way. Ellison strikes me as a tad stuffy, both in the way he constructs his sentences and in the way he sometimes has trouble remembering women exist—certainly he never imagined any would be reading his articles. But two sentences later he will demonstrate beyond a doubt a clearer understanding of U.S. postwar culture than anyone else dared to articulate. I am often dubious of his take on aesthetics and their relationship to politics or sociology, but there is so much here that Ellison was, if not the first, at least among the first to articulate. And in his particular wheelhouse, he really just wants us to write better books.
I have been guilty of the fallacy of assuming most people who lived in the past, in particular cultural and historical situations, had trouble seeing the real scope of their actions and the meanings of their relations. And while yes, it is hard and most of us are short-sighted, that is a complete fallacy. People knew slavery was not a normal or excusable institution, and they saw through the fog of post-Reconstruction bullshit in the cultural atmosphere. Though Ellison had to work very hard for most of his life to see through that fog, on the page he is incisive and clear. He never lost sight of the goal, “a more human way of life.”
sherbertwells's review
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
The author of Invisible Man reflects on literature, music and society in immaculate prose essays. While not every work is as great as “On Bird, Bird-Watching and Jazz,” which inspired me to pick up this collection, each reveals the internal rhythms of a superb writer and critic.
“In those days it was either live with music or die with noise, and we chose rather desperately to live” (187)
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, Death of parent, and Alcohol
jordana's review against another edition
4.0
dense, uneven and at times dated, but there’s no doubting Ellison’s brilliance. some of the most perceptive lit criticism and social commentary I’ve read in a while
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