Yoknapatawpha Blues

Faulkner's Fiction and Southern Roots Music

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Music, Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism
Cover of the book Yoknapatawpha Blues by Tim A. Ryan, LSU Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Tim A. Ryan ISBN: 9780807160275
Publisher: LSU Press Publication: April 13, 2015
Imprint: LSU Press Language: English
Author: Tim A. Ryan
ISBN: 9780807160275
Publisher: LSU Press
Publication: April 13, 2015
Imprint: LSU Press
Language: English

During the 1920s and 1930s, Mississippi produced two of the most significant influences upon twentieth-century culture: the modernist fiction of William Faulkner and the recorded blues songs of African American musicians like Charley Patton, Geeshie Wiley, and Robert Johnson. In Yoknapatawpha Blues, the first book examining both Faulkner and the music of the south, Tim A. Ryan identifies provocative parallels of theme and subject in diverse regional genres and texts.

Placing Faulkner's literary texts and prewar country blues song lyrics on equal footing, Ryan illuminates the meanings of both in new and unexpected ways. He provides close analysis of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 in Faulkner's "Old Man" and Patton's "High Water Everywhere"; racial violence in the story "That Evening Sun" and Wiley's "Last Kind Words Blues"; and male sexual dysfunction in Sanctuary and Johnson's "Dead Shrimp Blues." This interdisciplinary study reveals how the characters of Yoknapatawpha County and the protagonists in blues songs similarly strive to assert themselves in a threatening and oppressive world.

By emphasizing the modernism found in blues music and the echoes of black vernacular culture in Faulkner's writing, Yoknapatawpha Blues links elucidates the impact of both Faulkner's fiction and roots music on the culture of the modern South, and of the nation.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

During the 1920s and 1930s, Mississippi produced two of the most significant influences upon twentieth-century culture: the modernist fiction of William Faulkner and the recorded blues songs of African American musicians like Charley Patton, Geeshie Wiley, and Robert Johnson. In Yoknapatawpha Blues, the first book examining both Faulkner and the music of the south, Tim A. Ryan identifies provocative parallels of theme and subject in diverse regional genres and texts.

Placing Faulkner's literary texts and prewar country blues song lyrics on equal footing, Ryan illuminates the meanings of both in new and unexpected ways. He provides close analysis of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 in Faulkner's "Old Man" and Patton's "High Water Everywhere"; racial violence in the story "That Evening Sun" and Wiley's "Last Kind Words Blues"; and male sexual dysfunction in Sanctuary and Johnson's "Dead Shrimp Blues." This interdisciplinary study reveals how the characters of Yoknapatawpha County and the protagonists in blues songs similarly strive to assert themselves in a threatening and oppressive world.

By emphasizing the modernism found in blues music and the echoes of black vernacular culture in Faulkner's writing, Yoknapatawpha Blues links elucidates the impact of both Faulkner's fiction and roots music on the culture of the modern South, and of the nation.

More books from LSU Press

Cover of the book Alexis in America by Tim A. Ryan
Cover of the book No More Heroes by Tim A. Ryan
Cover of the book Peter Taylor by Tim A. Ryan
Cover of the book Uke Rivers Delivers by Tim A. Ryan
Cover of the book Six Poets from the Mountain South by Tim A. Ryan
Cover of the book Slave against Slave by Tim A. Ryan
Cover of the book The Louisiana Scalawags by Tim A. Ryan
Cover of the book Slave Life in Virginia and Kentucky by Tim A. Ryan
Cover of the book The Confederate Heartland by Tim A. Ryan
Cover of the book Blackout Starlight by Tim A. Ryan
Cover of the book The Panic of 1857 and the Coming of the Civil War by Tim A. Ryan
Cover of the book The Capture of New Orleans 1862 by Tim A. Ryan
Cover of the book The Hemingway Short Story by Tim A. Ryan
Cover of the book Evangelicalism and the Politics of Reform in Northern Black Thought, 1776-1863 by Tim A. Ryan
Cover of the book Theater of Memory by Tim A. Ryan
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy