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Trading Twelves: The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray Paperback – May 15, 2001

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Ralph Ellison (Author)
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Ralph Ellison (Author), Albert Murray (Author, Preface), John Callahan (Editor, Introduction)
4.7 out of 5 stars 6 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage (May 15, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0375708057
  • ISBN-13: 978-0375708053
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,409,634 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 starsMusic on the Page
By A Customer on August 16, 2000
Format: Hardcover
This is an excellent book. Fans of Ellison and Murray will appreciate the intimate look at the lives of these writers that can be gained from reading the letters published in this work. Moreover, the call and response nature of the letters beautifully mimic that which can be heard in some of the classic jazz and gospel songs of America. You'll have a hard time putting this one down...
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5.0 out of 5 starsa must read
By Paul Devlin on February 25, 2001
Format: Hardcover
I could not put this down. It is a funny, warm, and insightful jam session on the subjects of literature, jazz, and American culture. This is a must have for any student of those subjects. It's also gives fascinating background into the lives and intellectual development of these literary giants.
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5.0 out of 5 stars"If Mose takes advantage of his own sense of reality he doesn't have to step back for anybody"
By Riquespeaks on March 5, 2007
Format: Paperback
The above quote is from one of Ralph Ellison's letters to Albert Murray and it summarizes both of these two men's positions on both art, as well as their outlook on African-American advancement in this country. I found this book to be extremely inspring, partly because these two men are/were very brilliant, partly as black history, partly as literary criticism, and very much for the fact it changed my conception of these two men. While these two cats are seen in the public imagination as some sort of conservatives in American culture, their letters show them to be two men very involved in black vernacular expression and very understanding and apprecieative of regular, as Sly Stone said, "Everyday People", and also, as people who show great disdain for bourgeise pretensions.

One of the striking things for me about this book is the fact that both of these men are older than my father, who was born in the thirties. It totally explodes my misconceptions about black people before 1954 (Brown vs Board). While messrs. Murray and Ellison talk about many issues pertaining to blacks and that include prejudice, they are in no way limited by racism, and it only periphirally comes up during their letters. Their focus is on how black expression is deeply ingrained in the American sensibility. And this is prior to the advent of Elvis Presley and Rock & Roll (for the most part). Jazz and Blues of course are the primary conduits of this. But the two also discuss Willimam Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway and Mark Twain in terms of how the motif of the black American influences their work.Read more ›
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