Jelly Roll: A Blues is a 2003 poetry collection by Kevin Young.
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| Author | Kevin Young |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Poetry |
| Publisher | Knopf |
Publication date | January 1, 2003 |
| Media type | Book |
| Pages | 208 |
| Awards | Finalist, National Book Award |
| ISBN | 978-0-375-41460-2 |
The 208-page book – Young's third – is named for jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton and develops a blues-based collection of love poems,[1] written predominantly in two-line stanzas.[2] In 2003, it was a National Book Award finalist and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist.[3] At Flavorwire, Jonathon Sturgeon described Jelly Roll as "one of several unimpeachably great books by Young...a poetic proof of the limitless emotional range of blues music and its embeddedness in the American imaginarium."[4] It received a starred review in Publishers Weekly, which noted, “Young has daringly likened himself in earlier poems and prose to Langston Hughes: this versatile lyric tour de force may well justify the ambitious comparison.”[2]
References
edit- ^ Gilsdorf, Ethan (17 April 2007). "Poet Kevin Young teaches 'to liberate all the voices'". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ a b "Nonfiction Book Review: JELLY ROLL (A BLUES) by Kevin Young, Author . Knopf $23 (208p) ISBN 978-0-375-41460-2". Publishers Weekly. November 25, 2002. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
- ^ "Kevin Young". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
- ^ Sturgeon, Jonathon (4 February 2016). "Music, Memory, and Black Bodies: Kevin Young's Brilliant Variations on the Blues". Flavorwire. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
External links
edit- "Jelly Roll" — title poem reprinted in The New York Times, May 18, 2003
- “Chorale”, “Ditty”, “Harvest Song” and "Elegy, Niagara Falls" – excerpted from Chapter One at KCRW.com