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Article Excerpt
George Gershwin: A New Biography. By William G. Hyland. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003. [xv, 279 p. ISBN 0-275-98111-8. $39.95.] Illustrations, bibliography, index.
William G. Hyland's new biography of George Gershwin is written in an accessible style that addresses a wide readership. Forgoing technical discussions and musical examples, the author offers a thoroughly researched and up-to-date account of the basic facts regarding Gershwin's life and work, and of the issues surrounding his music. Hyland is well aware of the difficulties confronting those who would do research on Gershwin, as he demonstrates in this concise and elegant formulation on the current state of Gershwin studies: "there has been an absence of disciplined theoretical, analytical, or historical discourse on Gershwin and his music. Much of what we think we know about him and his music is based on popular journalists' literature, much of it highly problematic in theory and method" (pp. 209-10). It is evident that the author wishes to distance himself from the popular journalists and their "problematic" literature in his admirable attempt to present a "disciplined" biography of his subject. Yet he does not totally escape the problems inherent in the literature he justly criticizes. While I find significant achievements in his book, I also have reservations about it from both editorial and organizational points of view.
Hyland had a long career as a statesman, but now seems to be indulging his love for the so-called "golden age" of American popular song. The Gershwin biography is his third book in a decade to deal with this period and its repertoire (following...
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