Bibliograph

The Chicago syncopator:, a Bohemian kid tells about his life in jazz : a novel, Philip T. Nemec

Type

Label

The Chicago syncopator:, a Bohemian kid tells about his life in jazz : a novel, Philip T. Nemec

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

fiction

Main title

The Chicago syncopator:

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Responsibility statement

Philip T. Nemec

Sub title

a Bohemian kid tells about his life in jazz : a novel

Summary

"...I am a syncopator, a jazzman. I mark time by being offbeat. My beats make the weak ones strong and the strong ones weak." With those words, the novel's main character, George Nepras, son of Czech immigrants and living a hard life in blue collar early twentieth-century Chicago, spins a tale of his life in jazz and his soul's redemption through it. Haunting the speakeasies of the Roaring Twenties, George studies early jazz greats like King Oliver and befriends jazz legend, Bix Beiderbecke. The road to his calling forces George to struggle against fate, virulent racial tensions, his insular ethnic neighborhood, and his own limitations in the tradition of James T. Farrell's character, Studs Lonigan. Often confused by the conflict between his Czech past and American identity, George nonetheless tackles life with the quiet courage and tenacity of Santiago in "The Old Man and the Sea."

Target audience

adult

resource.variantTitle

Bohemian kid tells about his life in jazz

Creator