# Billie's Bent Elbow: Exorbitance, Intimacy, and a Nonsensuous Standard - Hardcover

by **Fumi Okiji** (Author)

Deeply informed by jazz, _Billie's Bent Elbow_ explores the nonsensical and nonsensuous in black radical thought and expression. Extending the encounter between black study, Frankfurt School critical theory, and sound studies staged in her first book, _Jazz as Critique_, and, crucially, bringing Yoruba aesthetics into the conversation, Okiji attunes to various sites of intemperance and equivocation in thought and music. _Billie's Bent Elbow_ eschews the parsimonious tendencies of the Western philosophical tradition, in its contribution to a shared project of improvised correspondence that finds its criticality in its heterophony of approach and intention. The book ranges from Haitian revolutionaries' rendition of "La Marseillaise," to Cecil Taylor's synesthetic poetics, to the aporetic mien of the orisha Esu, to Billie Holiday's undulating arm. What is more, by way of her intense fascination with these sites of fantastic noise, Okiji brings our attention to a galaxy of intimacies that flash up in her experiments in array and correspondence. The nonsensuous standard Okiji cultivates in this musical and essayistic book, in concert with a host of theorists, musicians and artists, is as much a statement of non-citizenry as it is preparation for intoxicated gathering.

### Author Biography

**Fumi Okiji** is Associate Professor of Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of _Jazz as Critique: Adorno and Black Expression Revisited_ (Stanford, 2018). She arrived at the academy by way of the London jazz scene and draws on sound practices to inform her writing.

**Number of Pages:** 196

**Dimensions:** 0.7 x 8.6 x 5.5 IN

**Publication Date:** January 21, 2025

## Details

- **Price:** 171.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 171.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Billie's Bent Elbow: Exorbitance, Intimacy, and a Nonsensuous Standard - Hardcover

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