Operatics

From a Broken Bottle Traces of Perfume Still Emanate #3

by Michel Leiris

Atet A.D. is the third volume of Nathaniel Mackey's ongoing epistolary fiction. Like the first two volumes, Bedouin Hornbook and Djbot Baghostus's Run, this work is written by the composer/multi-instrumentalist N., a founding member of a band formerly known as the Mystic Horn Society.The Village Voice wrote "Bedouin Hornbook struck me as the most moving and intelligent fiction about modern jazz I'd ever read." Atet A.D. continues that tale in letters that span a seven-month period beginning shortly after Thelonious Monk's death and culminating in the band recording their first album on John Coltrane's birthday. N. chronicles and meditates upon, among other events, Penguin's return from seclusion, the band's adoption of a new name, and a perplexing twist of their expressive powers.

Genres: Poetry, American

100 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2000

About the author

Born in Paris in 1901, Michel Leiris was a French surrealist writer and ethnographer. In the 1920s he became a member of the surrealist movement and contributed to La révolution surréaliste. In those years, he wrote a surrealist novel: Aurora.

After his exit from the surrealist group, he teamed up with Georges Bataille in the magazine Documents.

Reviews

[Robert Wechsler]

The closest thing to jazz-prose I’ve ever read. This makes the prose very poetic, with lots of repetition and wordplay, especially with repeated words and phrases, and only enough plot to hold the prose together. I put the book down after 50 pages for the same reason one can listen to only so long a jazz solo. I intend to get back to reading more of this wonderful prose again.

[Mr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was pleased to hear upon completing this book that Nathaniel Mackey has more or less given himself over to writing poetry which I think is a smart move because his srange writing style (which places emphasis on sound) is far more suitable for poetry than prose. This novel, is the third installment of a trilogy about a traveling jazz band that is presented in letter form and has an off the wall weird mixture of music, myth, etymology, and surrealism. Unfortunately, for readers like me de-emphasis on story and character is always a serious handicap. It seems that Mackey is most interested with proving to his readers that he's an intellectual. Perhaps I just misunderstood this book, and maybe I would like it better if I read it again, but I just f ound it overly pretentious and ultimately unapproachable. There is a large following of literature buffs who swear it is masterful, but I can't imagine the average casual reader being anything but annoyed by this one.

[Tim]

Third in Mackey's From a Broken Bottle Traces of Perfume Still Emanate series. I like Mackey's work a lot, but in some ways this was a more frustrating read than Djbot Baghostus's Run because it's more or less the same thing: the same basic plotlessness, the same prose. The tone and philosophizing bothered me a little--accusing someone of using big words for the sake of using big words is usually a sign that the reader doesn't understand those big words, but in this case it's warranted: the book's nigh-incessant academia-speak (already a rare thing in fiction) can be cold and distancing. That said, it's still a worthwhile read, and I'm looking forward to part four in a couple of weeks.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a jazz novel, and Mackey captures jazz astoundingly. A celebrated poet, he makes each line dance so wildly that the whole novel is best read aloud. In the end, I'm not sure it adds up to much, but it does what it does as well as it can be done. Full of specific (down to the measure) musical allusions, elaborate word play, and aural pyrotechnics, it's an exhaustingly brilliant and ultimately snobbish novel. How jazz is that?

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whew this was hard going. As much as I appreciate Mr. Mackay's writing, getting through it was like reading a novel length poem. A chapter a day was about all I could handle. He does capture a certain jazzy type of consciousness in a way I haven't read in another author.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it's absolutely vital that you hear the sound of Mackey's voice (he's a poet primarily so there are many recordings of his readings available online) before you attempt to read his work. Also if you have no interest in modern jazz this is going to be a great big snoozefest for you.