Constructing a nervous system a memoir

"Stunning for her daring originality, the author of Negroland gives us what she calls "a temperamental autobiography," comprised of visceral, intimate fragments that fuse criticism and memoir. Margo Jefferson constructs a nervous system with pieces of different lengths and tone, conjoining arts writ...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jefferson, Margo, 1947- (Author)
Format: Books Print Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Pantheon Books, [2022]
Edition:First edition.
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MARC

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003 OCoLC
005 20220407103400.0
008 210710s2022 nyu b 000 0aeng
010 |a  2021029571 
019 |a 1290494271 
020 |a 9781524748173  |q (hardcover) 
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020 |z 9781524748180  |q (ebk) 
035 |a (OCoLC)1252763617  |z (OCoLC)1290494271 
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050 0 0 |a E185.97.J44  |b A3 2022 
082 0 0 |a 305.896/073  |2 23 
100 1 |a Jefferson, Margo,  |d 1947-  |e author. 
245 1 0 |a Constructing a nervous system :  |b a memoir /  |c Margo Jefferson. 
250 |a First edition. 
264 1 |a New York :  |b Pantheon Books,  |c [2022] 
300 |a 197 pages ;  |c 20 cm 
336 |a text  |b txt  |2 rdacontent 
337 |a unmediated  |b n  |2 rdamedia 
338 |a volume  |b nc  |2 rdacarrier 
504 |a Includes bibliographical references. 
520 |a "Stunning for her daring originality, the author of Negroland gives us what she calls "a temperamental autobiography," comprised of visceral, intimate fragments that fuse criticism and memoir. Margo Jefferson constructs a nervous system with pieces of different lengths and tone, conjoining arts writing (poem, song, performance) with life writing (history, psychology). The book's structure is determined by signal moments of her life, those that trouble her as well as those that thrill and restore. In this nervous system: The sounds of a black spinning disc of a 1950's jazz LP as intimate and instructive as a parent's voice. The muscles and movements of a ballerina, spliced with those of an Olympic runner: template for what a female body could be. Harriet Beecher Stowe's Topsy finds her way into the art of Kara Walker and the songs of Cécile McLorin Salvant. Bing Crosby and Ike Turner become alter egos. W.E.B. DuBois and George Eliot meet illicitly, as he appropriates lines from her story "The Hidden Veil" to write his famous "behind the veil" passages in The Souls of Black Folk. The words of multiple others (writers, singers, film characters, friends, family) act as prompts and as dialogue. The fragments of this brilliant book, while not neglecting family, race, and class, are informed by a kind of aesthetic drive: longing, ecstasy, or even acute ambivalence. Constructing a nervous system is Jefferson's relentlessly galvanizing mis en scene for unconventional storytelling as well as a platform for unexpected dramatis personae"--  |c Provided by publisher. 
600 1 0 |a Jefferson, Margo,  |d 1947- 
650 0 |a African American women  |v Biography. 
650 0 |a African American women critics  |v Biography. 
650 0 |a African Americans  |x Race identity. 
650 0 |a African Americans  |x Intellectual life. 
650 0 |a African Americans  |x Social life and customs. 
651 0 |a United States  |x Race relations  |x History  |v Anecdotes. 
651 0 |a United States  |x Social life and customs  |v Anecdotes. 
655 7 |a Autobiographies.  |2 lcgft 
655 7 |a Anecdotes.  |2 lcgft 
776 0 8 |i Online version:  |a Jefferson, Margo, 1947-  |t Constructing a nervous system  |b First edition.  |d New York : Pantheon Books, [2022]  |z 9781524748180  |w (DLC) 2021029572 
994 |a C0  |b PCB 
949 |a schlow  |b SANON  |c 305.896 JEF  |d i  |e 39635104331198  |f 718378  |g ddc  |j 03/01/2022 
999 |a 466948