Jazzin’ Around in the Analog Age: The Intercultural Impetus in French Literary Representations of American Jazz in the 1990s
Abstract
Jazz is widely regarded as a French-American cultural product, given the positive reception of its Black American musicians in France between the wars when the United States was still segregated. The subsequent consecration of jazz as a liberating force and a legitimate art through French literary and cinematic representations is outlined in this article, demonstrating the intercultural exchanges that influenced jazz development in both France and America during the twentieth century. Focusing on the 1990s as the culmination of the analog age and the precursor to the digital age, I examine three French novels featuring jazz musicians as central protagonists to determine whether the French-American intercultural impetus retained its importance at the end of the twentieth century.
Fields of Study & Subjects
North African History and Literature
Communism
Protests
Social Movements
French Historical and Cultural Studies
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Contemporary French and Francophone Studies
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 856–876
- Publication date
- 8 August 2026
- Language
- EN