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

Murray, Albert

ISBN 10: 0375421424 / ISBN 13: 9780375421426

Published by Pantheon Books, New York, 2001

About this Item

195p. Original cloth backed boards. dj. 21 cm. SIGNED on half-title by Murray. Essays.

Seller Inventory # 94100

Bibliographic Details

• Title: From the Briarpatch File: On Context, Procedure, and American Identity
• Publisher: Pantheon Books, New York
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0375421424
• ISBN 13: 9780375421426
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Signed
  • African Americana

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

Albert Murray was born in Nokomis, Alabama, in 1916. He was educated at Tuskegee Institute, where he later taught literature and directed the college theater. He is the author of many works of fiction and nonfiction, including <i>The Seven League Boots</i>, <i>The Blue Devils of Nada</i>, and <i>The Spyglass Tree</i>. He lives in New York City.