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Work #1105 · Late

Jazz

Toni Morrison
1992 · English
Novel · African-American literature / Modernist novel

Morrison's 1992 Harlem-1926 novel — jazz as form, Joe Trace and Violet, the murdered Dorcas

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Jazz (Late)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Non-Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Bi-directional
Space · Extent Finite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Partial
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Impersonal
Observer · Moral Authority Experience
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Variable
Energy · Dispersibility Reversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Variable
Information · Personal Conservation Variable
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Jazz

The 1926 narrative time and the Reconstruction-era Virginia past worked through.

Space

Jazz

Harlem and the rural-Virginia origins of the migrants.

Matter

Jazz

The embodied Black-migrant lives at the heart of the novel.

Observer

Jazz

The gossipy-jazz-narrator as proper observer of Harlem-1926 life.

Energy

Jazz

The musical-erotic-political energies of 1926 Harlem.

Information

Jazz

The narrative-musical content shaped by jazz aesthetics.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Jazz

Jazz has been variously assessed — defenders see major modernist achievement, occasional critics find the gossipy-narrator device unstable.