Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Free as Gods: How the Jazz Age Reinvented Modernism
    Free as Gods: How the Jazz Age Reinvented Modernism
    Free as Gods: How the Jazz Age Reinvented Modernism
    Ebook421 pages5 hours

    Free as Gods: How the Jazz Age Reinvented Modernism

    By Charles A. Riley

    3/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Among many art, music and literature lovers, particularly devotees of modernism, the expatriate community in France during the Jazz Age represents a remarkable convergence of genius in one place and period—one of the most glorious in history. Drawn by the presence of such avant-garde figures as Joyce and Picasso, artists and writers fled the Prohibition in the United States and revolution in Russia to head for the free-wheeling scene in Paris, where they made contact with rivals, collaborators, and a sophisticated audience of collectors and patrons. The outpouring of boundary-pushing novels, paintings, ballets, music, and design was so profuse that it belies the brevity of the era (1918–1929). Drawing on unpublished albums, drawings, paintings, and manuscripts, Charles A. Riley offers a fresh examination of both canonic and overlooked writers and artists and their works, by revealing them in conversation with one another. He illuminates social interconnections and artistic collaborations among the most famous—Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Gershwin, Diaghilev, and Picasso—and goes a step further, setting their work alongside that of African Americans such as Sidney Bechet, Archibald Motley Jr., and Langston Hughes, and women such as Gertrude Stein and Nancy Cunard. Riley’s biographical and interpretive celebration of the many masterpieces of this remarkable group shows how the creative community of postwar Paris supported astounding experiments in content and form that still resonate today.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherForeEdge
    Release dateJun 6, 2017
    ISBN9781512600551
    Free as Gods: How the Jazz Age Reinvented Modernism

    Related to Free as Gods

    Related ebooks

    Art For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Related categories

    Reviews for Free as Gods

    3/5

    13 ratings5 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      One of the treason I requested this book for early review is because I don’t know as much as I would like about the Jazz Age or the Modernist movement and this seemed like a good place to start learning more. Sadly I don’t feel this book was meant for someone like me but was instead meant for someone with a fairly deep knowledge of that time period instead. Each chapter deals with a main “character”, their history and development as an artist and something of how they influenced the times and arts of the era. The author mostly talked about the expected names, the Fitzgerald’s, Hemmingway, Debussy, though he did also bring up more than a few people I had never heard of before. Unfortunately also a large part of each chapter was taken up with a lot of name dropping, for lack of a better term, each chapter is just full of name after name after name with no real context of whom they are or why I should be aware or care about them. I felt as though it was assumed I would already know who they were and why they mattered…and I almost always didn’t. I can’t call this a complete waste of my time since I did find a couple of new artists that were discussed but overall it was a slow, slog of a read due to the constant listing of names, and the sections on musicians or dance/choreography were especially hard to get though since I had no reference for what he was talking about at all never having seen or heard the pieces he was talking about. This book may be more appropriate for someone already well versed in the time period but I would not recommend it for a neophyte or those with a more causal interest in the topic.
    • 4/5
      FREE AS GODS: MODERNISM: HOW THE JAZZ AGE REINVENTED MODERNISMBy Charles RileyIf you are an aficionado of jazz, of writers like Hemingway and Fitzgerald, of artists like Picasso and , this book is for you. Riley’s amazing in-depth knowledge of the arts in the decade between WWI and the Depression will astound and delight the reader. He delves into the “cross-pollenization” of all the creative artists living in Paris during this momentous time, and meticulously ties all their influences together. Who knew that jazz music influence ballet, and vice-versa? Or that artists and writers collaborated together and fed each other’s creative impulses? It was a pleasure to read little-known and amusing and heart-wrenching vignettes about favorite writers, musicians, dancers, and artists and their many interactions and achievements. Riley recreates a vibrant world that makes readers wish they, too, could have been in Paris, participating and observing these groundbreaking and lasting artistic accomplishments that have helped to shape our artistic world today. The legacy of those years is truly done justice by Riley’s scholarship and his accessible prose.
    • 4/5
      The Jazz Age and how a number of well-known artists--the musicians, the writers, the painters--met and inspired one another and thus defined the way we view art from that era. Though I knew a lot of what was written about the people whose work I've studied in the past (mostly writers), there was so much more going on. This book gave me a broader understanding of just how interconnected the greats of the Jazz Age were.
    • 5/5
      Charles A. Riley in his book Free As Gods, How The Jazz Age Reinvented Modernism (Lebanon, NH :ForeEdge ; 2017) covers a lot of ground in the time-space vortex of early 20th-century art Paris, capital of Europe, home of expatriates from America and elsewhere. Gertrude Stein's 'Lost Generation' calls to mind Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald and Pablo Picasso. Mr. Riley makes sure that we remember many others who were part of the vortex: George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Langston Hughes; Le Corbusier, Fernand Leger, Gerald Murphy; Oswald Spengler, Archibald MacLeish, Eugene Jolas. The names of painters, musicians, dancers, poets fill 20 pages of bibliography and index.And it is important to know, as Mr. Riley teaches, that it is called the Jazz Age for a reason. The familiar harmonic musical scale has been altered with emphasis on flat 3rds and 5ths, rhythmic patterns moved from comfortable even 4 beats to a measure (bar) to 8th notes, and emphatic down beats. Instrumentation included auto 'taxi' horns and cow bells. The music of W. C. Handy and King Oliver and Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong was alive in Paris and literally set the tone of the artistic time-space continuum. It was The Jazz Age and it was Modern. Mr. Riley reminds us that such artistic vortices have happened before: Periclean Athens, Augustan Rome, the Tang Dynasty's Xian, Renaissance Florence and Amsterdam, Elizabethan London, imperial St. Petersberg, late 19th-century Vienna, and New York (Greenwich Village) about the time of the Paris maelstrom. What followed in the wake of The Jazz Age is still being worked out. The best description thus far seems to be Post-Modernism, still under definition.The publisher, ForeEdge ; and imprint of the University Press of New England, has issued another quality publication both in terms of content and the book itself. = = =
    • 1/5
      __Free as Gods: How the Jazz Age Reinvented Modernism__, by C. A Riley II, was a big disappointment to me. It provides a kind of anecdotal account of various musicians, writers, painters, composers, and theoreticians meeting by chance or design in Europe during the twenties, but it never really does what the title promises: it never discusses HOW the influences happened in terms of the various arts. The book is just over 225 pages plus footnotes and biblio. It needed to be more like 400 pages, and it needed a more analytical writer.

    Book preview

    Free as Gods - Charles A. Riley

    2^book_preview_excerpt.html}MG_iHJDJb(DRV8ݷ@fU"#;#@02;u%GfJ1kk߶߽?6oN".4}pC)7~_75Uw~9_qWWkï; m ٻW?yZ*a(CQYP\4e=Tx*`qӹv|S+_h*a7W/.aQ^|œ_<.(7|➧go'_}ˇ(uO W_/A..|ї<~Oi r.+˧iC,_p*ۿ~9 x뺐GmQb/9qMq]{>aPuː~)]x.YZd+mCcO+{zGsk_\sS>N//Yg*<ؕ?ɲxxꍣm]0mgW,|g</G:UqvG@lu,xLb#Sp:ʯDx3Z@@CbD9]#g<}v8駷w}Q>b Xw UqHׇb]*|^'U=7W8i+\SlWQ0>o6rn|(;psз~q|܇8P2gbunHi#_H0fs/j㐊Pضӎoۅn\ U!>viCluP1&"*|y_=-~[٘EJQ5_aҷZ)TЇ`;o8[w|xQ:tI uLb/ex߹#ysg+Qbpo{O |ڹa=FrllǓ⵻t.,zFP -)fBM yR)yeaos^r.iWqAb_ q=/UE|* Y ++_]% q|xv%r;(M"^z@;?/>;~EpzUެw/NGz'EPm!r@C3}hso~䛛 qu!35 CqmM2 זv&G<-Շ#҂jP▸| غYP:\,vh!Ǐ9FGO0-,;OIH[)Nvq )R_Cb36,TmPv ˺Z5P̩vj|IWptåkQ%Ãe,N1Jb \TP lo5@/Wn)b8b&(V&z&*[uV0x+lGmw A>1B"Z)v׺$"m+8|% ]@7QoPs>{V{Xn¤#{{^,aw-L\/C!kHe+z pu |<X v]u"\vC!0h֐( JCy-e*\{)EZ [?jxr8zbj7QEb3,dH# :Q}%Jc3؎tXq+aUo +X~ۋ2FЈi \B­fM_r]Z60A&c 7c$"R ֥}z􈍭um:2MVH$zWn(j܈QaR_8beGk8_e@ If @p('D,̀- e*]M tpK(>)ݨ(7+1} lC8_*&=4y  Y,,gL5b7Smwi94;Y Y5nSibYQAPtUHwH@ǹ#mlN7|o!"[f.L1#n> 8]| $qbFuhNsL&m1HT̘u.GY'\aY+"tͺ0ڭ}u\up8tjBDSG'0փ@n(Р˽/RPQ^8H0OLvF N5 .eمUcQteL !lҩ_1Op(NSL mՔkSs$tsyh.P1c5OX|<aF_%ǜa!:PtGj(4.e1G]HP@XaޏާD^GHu洙v.IH X3mgU|&P4tpXJi DH$p" ni | H`v:*A4ˁaƈ^IЕI 'ê fb$?&P`e\P lV^&7:⺇O=1aCVLCC [%ifZN>/YTYq~K>h2nWIgIe wQALg׸c!7@{I8~JҁS k*q ɻn"B,q1q"2!~6ܝLyA^+ _#hxt`"}x}/ƊQi$QcX u56ܭgB'x/Ah;<; ʎX$ I{e"tVmEvH]z MPGlFuU(%1\t^׊~u3rHt )7茙m`. yřk>fn*zsYLTT`N^F1I}7)#\߉ԠhPDuj=bj/arAy}!ap!N^?b1| 5룗Y%E3-(=JƎ:CFLRS޵ 6=̧s1a :T tȪE0rdc8aikn8g5$ k@*u-*mF.iK \B{7QFN0P`J/5kfTiU&baG)%#:!QZaF` -NG_YcS65ҌblV@_kķ!EP}-'/2܍gvorb)peV.t\HކU]IYT[<* W2@OlSUܦF-~%b1=N9_AW@c+mygL3'nd؛1Գ3yĿ_L7ˉ '1̯<t |cT|g:q7?DK@+5Brksf2KfsR@zUCQ|rQj9e`+Z ˀc)RrnHkTOAVؗ0,8^biCOy;UfޖR*+R>Ć,, KnY(hU,FI̭,tT|ɔ9&8pyI~b.rXQO|2SXc9$sfa5u݂$U#K\w_/Jޮ$&ŧRԸ_tHj q0;j6ȕdz4 vd^Qk c'Ђ݌I9H A9-<){Ey%9BVǟ 7PKɗf#E t,"ȷxR*FFUy|m6~Y\Fap%@T0j,QP*y^BȢs8S]3Z`PmMѾ%PYIx VEDnDvLErd!9b_$czJ% zMc#\pN@ǥs[MU&C @>Qɧ?"eF MN6;v+،A01 # )G9 /s7- aR0,I?,5F<|":Z0Y =d)©+ ,0 93jmTen綂oP+a:`YvQtm&8ExV€|$ޜ1CV z*[%Zz!6DG v `6ĘraDM( <];9;^gdK6t7@zB%vA)1JQh>vΝ8/WFç'+Qp[{Ysq1w @{wOլ#7DkF#GD׳p܌gp㷩-JTjb>ւc U#DsVٞO)ba+4R86V1o)OdA}DդRەUmR8&O)#*7xvAsJoM?/u͜۔m{3}hn?IѽFL^@JL@  <$貱@{纍c݋5L ؓU06ݰkC}ϽoJ>(WP5kOSG觊n6YȔRE@g$OzZ9/ nŊ3}yFxnjAaF¼Ƥ~\a^h@+;NRR$mZ`J[-uR9r|#UhkdyP:>#3d$>_iR+Q@NP$':TeQ-lu Ǟ҅rI|nNЉ*3 tS ݧ_i^O$[)^lX:y:VV TVY1>)|Kyuӡ8UϙfAw3mt)Cڼrox&}2LOuף'K !OO!?ż)^oѰ5R/@p$AoBWc0x/_qܨfAŽo>nb'V^g)ЀpnIo]Y%Zy] j A%oz_vu7g |@id.նuR( |RH, =}PO- u+gS 8^(w]K\oL;[9տ8Rh$3]'5؊Sb.9; q"2){s Q 4!Jߋ4VÈgw 'RK{.3gUrMy z5,=HHn+@cC.tHf_4U=r)m٘劔MD]utQzЮrmyعat$md̲ 3s4#j%SIxEҞr@+͚ 7 C\Ti s-Mžz+ݡBB ֜ YJP?ʐ Kފ/00h&FVr% /yiQӅBfsq{''ɽo{7kjuJ$ͽP~PT^/f3 X-Ԍ};9?>ZMKkF ]h%PEFmI8c]t&D=k*F/WWE+PUsC3N!_zE.z&?vyvzПݳ>2gKn}V^Ps/fg=, /^hH 6|C6)mƃ{AEB+`yIKO! WcK]dނf_r;9>e`;krs$]"@ǽ1ncʻ%׋<`␊zj ܣPq"k(H϶ʛ2a3@^K:T~-VQF':duI~V{VPZvG13RZ3pE%Ycg՟ Ld #dE( 7%In/UŀH֬kN'wV.N.#7;]"S1IXxl6U5v,N'-NI9m]jm d/_3(;;XQjzRMxWw@<}ҽfӤ6;q[.o?i5s; >fJQ.ΌheOpJ\FT Zӌ^Tgn\5yaaPec7%Ĥ2JBVk}gϢ5Mt1M%d^`y'>IH`SKAL<~ݫĥkG֊D H}8HWa[$9.%z%a^G^zw,fd>n)X 94'j GcɧbӖVq\ב1M€F^gm? :9.Fj;wޜ}l((2)+ӾV@WsGK .gwnN$[Eı ةgw:,Cə?fv̅^}ʉ[v)5׊|•6Sxm7V)dsd<3a &Pa,v &@o?_nuCxElm)JҒP00jXo MPoUj4'0-YE'cNO" >xJ}u[IӚJJ<;'8z0ԂݠNfhT~-6fi'm7$zjk9oEɱi-<BORkۜzV~B;CmAFӹf58~n%T1 ՟>o^V8jlzڹ@Wt Suv.cqցYj{o~XxHFG$vkŘgsot}J[=Mf4My/4eÀesZ ^Ѡ7.mf}r:L^cbdN?iff8g lL5Bt {A^7gqMN¶ctߍķ 4~;BqSTIUhҹY@ȯL,ğr?oz'&b8ϿNt~ǍNn#'cjt=9|I( 1%rj2dQoa? =MُJbf $9>DB}L˙[DR.z]{= mʛvԳj[mcENL&=:M*MZ>jK%*΍v*OʩVkɅ qi:A>(wʒp\nAX#FiĬȿ1ιc|,-UFL. j2>06INžJPFwt(١z q["F4S;=HqMWC2ǐ4Wcfk~v*ވ/+fvl[r?vi В zxى 9 fV4lE>F#7qu{ hoH 9*~lvF yɞ R8>oL3Ǡ Vj+׮ʡ%K%ä\?(XM9cf$.br)H EEkwr(^DxuלR߄1[}˰GeiK&]Vz!Q> ElHw$SrXʮ7:FIM鏁uQ.WjҁIX=o髩1[tc0f^nR<$j-;k3re e\Ț鬉nlNB80gR?+%~
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1