(Fiction; Vintage Books, 1996; originally published by Norton, 1976)
The uniquely American musical form of jazz has been a rich source for understanding the social and cultural history of American, particularly African-American, life and has provided the aesthetic language for many American novelists, among them Ralph Ellison, Albert Murray, and Toni Morrison. The Dutch-Sri Lankan writer Michael Ondaatje, who has spent his adult life in Canada, is not usually associated with jazz.
