From the Briarpatch File: On Context, Procedure, and American Identity

by Albert Murray

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.

Genres: Essays

208 pages, Hardcover

First published November 13, 2001

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of essays. But there are some overarching themes, I think. The role of the peculiarly American genre of the Blues on the American Voice, and art. The importance of art as affirmation of existence. The importance of the specific in order to reach the universal. Recommended, as there is a lot of food for thought contained herein.