Critics' Opinion:
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Published Sep 2022
496 pages
Genre: Essays
Publication Information
The grievous loss of Stanley Crouch, one of America's most renowned intellectuals, is underscored by the posthumous appearance of these remarkable essays.
With Stanley Crouch's untimely death in 2020, American literature lost "a critic without peer" (Ta-Nehisi Coates). Born in Los Angeles in 1945, Crouch―a towering stylist, fearless columnist, and without question, one of the finest jazz critics of all time―was Rabelaisian both in stature and in intellectual appetite. Beloved yet cantankerous, Crouch delighted and enflamed the passions of his readers in equal measure, whether writing about race, politics, literature, or music.
In these essays―some discovered on his computer, unpublished until now―Crouch tackles subjects ranging from Malcolm X ("a thorned bud standing in the shadow of sequoias") to the films of Quentin Tarantino ("With Django, Tarantino has slipped down...into a shallow and bloodstained hip-hop turn that his own best work has well-refuted"). Introduced by Jelani Cobb, with an afterword by Wynton Marsalis, and collected by his longtime editor Glenn Mott, Victory Is Assured canonizes the legacy of an inimitable, indispensable American critic.
"Stanley Crouch's development as a critic is on full display in this standout collection of 58 essays, described by Mott in his preface as a sort of 'intellectual autobiography'...This is an essential collection for fans of Crouch's writing, or anyone interested in the art of cultural criticism." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A sterling collection of essays and other pieces by the eminent critic and music historian...Testimony to a remarkable intellect and essential to any student of modern cultural criticism." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
"A stylish butcher of sacred cows" (Salon), and self-described "radical-pragmatist" Stanley Crouch (1945–2020) was a columnist, novelist, essayist, and television commentator. A cofounder of Jazz at Lincoln Center, he is the author of eight critically acclaimed books.
Glenn Mott edited Crouch's "American Perspectives" columns for over a decade.
A staff writer at the New Yorker, Jelani Cobb was a former student of Stanley Crouch.
Wynton Marsalis is an internationally acclaimed musician, composer, bandleader, and educator. He is the artistic director of Jazz at the Lincoln Center.
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