Dancing with de Beauvoir: Jazz and the French Colin Nettelbeck

The profound influence of jazz in French culture is addressed in this examination of the heterogeneous array of symbols that France associates with the art form. Since its debut at the end of World War I, jazz in France has embodied modernity, sexual liberation, and the promise of America, while also signifying an encroachment of American culture, African primitivism, social decadence, and moral decay. This study analyzes the production and reception of these symbolic associations as they appear in French cinema, music, literature, and cultural icons from de Beauvoir to Derrida.