Page 2: "Giant Steps"

Page 2 American Book Review American Book Review Founded 1977 by Ronald Sukenick Published at the School of Arts and Sciences, University of Houston–Victoria American Book Review specializes in reviews of frequently neglected published works of fiction, poetry, literary and cultural criticism from small, regional, university, ethnic, avant-garde, and women’s presses. ABR as a literary journal aims to project the sense of engagement that writers themselves feel about what is being published. It is edited and produced by writers for writers and the general public. Comment on its reviews is encouraged, as are suggestions for future reviews. Send all editorial correspondence or review copies to: American Book Review, University of Houston–Victoria, School of Arts and Sciences, 3007 N. Ben Wilson, Victoria, TX 77901-5731 Telephone: (361) 570-4200 Fax: (361) 570-4207 Email: alcornc@uhv.edu (Charles Alcorn, managing editor) Send all subscription correspondence to: American Book Review, University of Houston–Victoria, 3007 N. Ben Wilson, Victoria, TX 77901-5731 Telephone: (361) 570-4101 Email: americanbookreview@uhv.edu© 2008 by American Book Review ISSN 0149-9408. Covers and cover details used by permission. American Book Review appears bimonthly.Annual subscription rates are $24 for a one-year and $40 for a two-year individual subscription; $30 for a one-year institutional subscription; $35 for a one-year foreign, airmail subscription. American Book Review is published by its editors, and is made possible, in part, by generous support from the School of Arts and Sciences, University of Houston–Victoria and Friends of ABR. This project is also supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art. ABR is also a member of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses. Trade distribution by Ingram Periodicals, 18 Ingram Boulevard, La Vergne, TN 37086-7000; Hudson–RPM, 150 Black River Road, Worcester, MA 01607; and Armadillo, 7310 LaCienaga Blvd., Inglewood, CA90302. Indexed in Humanities International Complete, Book Review Index, Current Contents/Arts & Humanities, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. http://americanbookreview.org Publisher: Editor: Managing Editor: Assistant Editor: Layout: Advertising Manager: Subscription Manager: Cover Image: Focus Editor: Publisher Emeritus: Associate Editors: Contributing Editors: Assistants: Jeffrey R. Di Leo Jeffrey R. Di Leo Charles Alcorn David C. Felts David C. Felts Charles Alcorn Susie Albert© Christopher Felver, “Oscar Peterson” Sascha Feinstein Charles B. Harris Mark Amerika, R.M. Berry, C. S. Giscombe, Larry McCaffery, Doug Nufer, Lance Olsen, Kevin Prufer, Rochelle Ratner, John Tytell, Barry Wallenstein, Eric Miles Williamson Rudolfo Anaya, Ron Arias, John Ashbery, Michael Bérubé, Rosellen Brown, Andrei Codrescu, William Demby, Rikki Ducornet, Raymond Federman, William Gass, Russell Hoover, Steve Katz, Clarence Major, Michael McClure, Joyce Carol Oates, Marjorie Perloff, Robert Peters, Corinne Robins, Charles Russell, Paul Schiavo, Barry Seiler, Charles Simic, Bruce Sterling, Regina Weinreich Nathan King Page 2 Would you be surprised by the story of a sixteenth-century monk who played jazz? You maybe didn’t realize that there was jazz dated back to the Renaissance? What kind of history didn’t they teach you in school? Born at the end of the fifteenth century, François Rabelais was a true jazz pioneer. His instrument was not the ivories, like the more well-known jazz Monk, Thelonious. Rabelais composed jazz with his pen. A Franciscan monk who later turned to Benedictine, Rabelais abandoned the monastic life to pursue a Bachelor’s degree.At the age of thirty-six, he entered the University of Montpellier, and within two months of study, received his Bachelor of Arts. (Now that’s a student loan that I can handle!) Two years later, he published the first great work of jazz fiction: Pantagruel (1532). In this amazing book, Rabelais frankly and exuberantly satirizes contemporary life. It is one of the wildest books ever written—and one of the greatest works of “improvisation” in the Western canon. In “Rabelais’ work,” says Raymond Federman, “you confront pure extemporaneous fiction, pure improvisation.” “Rabelais is the first great jazz fictioneer.” Rabelais’s book was promptly censored by the theological faculty at the University of Paris as sacrilegious and obscene. Then, as now, anonymity had its virtues. Anticipating the negative reaction Pantagruel would receive...