Jazz Analysis

For a novel called Jazz, you can't get more jazz-tastic than Harlem in 1926 during the Harlem Renaissance. All the action in the present-day of the novel takes place in Harlem, and we're treated to...

Whoa there, Jazz—way to hog all of the narrative techniques.Jazz, like the music it's a shout-out to, doesn't play by the rules. There's the presence of a shadowy narrator in Jazz who pops up occ...

Jazz bucks convention in the genre department. It's a little bit historical fiction, a little bit family drama, a little bit postmodern head-trip, and a lot bit awesome.We're putting it in the hist...

If there's one thing we want you to take away from this learning guide about Jazz, it's that this book contains some serious multitudes. And when there are as many narrative perspectives and voices...

When you're writing a novel based on a musical form, you bet your novel is going to end up being musical. What ever do we mean by this, though? Well, one of the main reasons prose is ever called mu...

Make sure you're sitting down for this one, Shmoopers: Jazz is called Jazz because it's structured on a little musical form called… jazz. This is a novel that has alternating character voices tha...

I am the name of the sound/and the sound of a name. I am the sign of the letter/and the designation of the division."Thunder, Perfect Mind,"The Nag HammadiOkay, so this is an excerpt from a Gnostic...

The last two lines of the book are "Look where your hands are. Now." Whoa.Let's start by remembering Jazz's preoccupation with history. Violet and Joe are two individuals that are under siege by th...

We're going to be honest with you: Listening to jazz isn't easy, and reading Jazz isn't a whole lot easier. Why? Well, remember that jazz is a musical form that basically took a sledgehammer to wha...

History, and More Mommy Issues Than Freud Could Shake A Cigar AtSo two big things contribute to the initial situation of Jazz. We have, on the one hand, the historical context of Jazz. No, don't ya...

A young hero or heroine falls under the shadow of the dark power.Okay, so the hero and heroine aren't actually all that young. Joe and Violet are both fifty, and they both fall under the spell of...

Disclaimer: Jazz doesn't work in a linear fashion. What constitutes a first act—a.k.a. the beginning of the text to the point of no return—doesn't happen at the beginning of this book. Nope, hi...

Jazz takes place during the Harlem Renaissance, which is so interesting that you should totally read more about it. (Source.)Okeh Records might get just a passing shout-out in Jazz, but as far as r...

In a book where the word barbecue means doing it, you know that there's going to be a lot of fogged-up windows. Although nothing in the novel is explicit or talks about specific body parts or sex a...

You don't hear the name Dorcas all that often. Dorcas is a biblical figure who made clothing for the poor as a form of charity. Considering how often Dorcas changes her clothes, we think he name wa...