The Higher Jazz

Abstract

Edmund Wilson, preeminent American literary critic of first half of twentieth century, often fretted that he was not taken seriously as a creative writer. Though he completed in draft this short novel, now entitled The Higher Jazz, it was never published. In mid-career, in 1939, Wilson planned a novel in three parts that would carry a man through fifteen years as a stockbroker, a Russian diplomat, and a writer. When he started on first section of this book, set in 1920s, it carried him away from his original project. His hero was instead transformed into a German American businessman who, aspiring to become a composer, seeks spirit of America in music that combined contemporary popular and modern classical, in what Wilson called elsewhere the higher jazz. This portrayal of 1920s provides a sense of elusive glories of Boom Era. Neale Reintz has edited The Higher Jazz for general reader. His introduction sets novel in historical context of Wilson's life and writings, and his annotations explain topical references and, more important, illustrate Wilson's method of composition.