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David Toop surely could try harder in struggling to think about fiction about music or musicians that doesn¡¯t ring false (¡°Books interview: David Toop¡±, Books, 23 June). There is a whole tradition of such writing in black literature that often makes the music the subject of the novel, from Ralph Ellison¡¯s wonderful reimaginings of Louis Armstrong¡¯s Black and Blue and Robert Johnson¡¯s blues ¡°Crossroads¡± in Invisible Man through Toni Morrison¡¯s speakeasy joints in Jazz to Jackie Kay¡¯s brilliant black British horn player in Trumpet. This tradition needs to be celebrated not ignored.

Alan Rice
Professor in English and American culture studies
University of Central Lancashire

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