Seems Like Murder Here : Southern Violence and the Blues Tradition

Winner of the 2004 C. Hugh Holman Award from the Society for the Study of Southern Literature. __Seems Like Murder Here__ offers a revealing new account of the blues tradition. Far from mere laments about lost loves and hard times, the blues emerge in this provocative study as vital responses to spectacle lynchings and the violent realities of African American life in the Jim Crow South. With brilliant interpretations of both classic songs and literary works, from the autobiographies of W. C. Handy, David Honeyboy Edwards, and B. B. King to the poetry of Langston Hughes and the novels of Zora Neale Hurston, __Seems Like Murder Here__ will transform our understanding of the blues and its enduring power. Winner Of The 2004 C. Hugh Holman Award From The Society For The Study Of Southern Literature, This Book Offers A New Account Of The Blues Tradition. Far From Mere Laments About Lost Loves And Hard Times, The Blues Emerge In This Study As Vital Responses To Spectacle Lynchings And The Violent Realities Of African American Life In The Jim Crow South. With Interpretations Of Both Classic Songs And Literary Works, From The Autobiographies Of W. C. Handy, David Honeyboy Edwards, And B. B. King To The Poetry Of Langston Hughes And The Novels Of Zora Neale Hurston, The Book Will Transform The Understanding Of The Blues And Its Enduring Power. I'm Tore Down -- Lynching And The Birth Of A Blues Tradition -- Make My Getaway -- Southern Violence And Blues Entrepreneurship In W.c. Handy's Father Of The Blues -- Dis(re)memberment Blues -- Narratives Of Abjection And Redress -- Shoot Myself A Cop -- Mamie Smith's Crazy Blues As Social Text -- Guns, Knives, And Buckets Of Blood -- The Predicament Of Blues Culture -- The Blade Already Crying In My Flesh -- Zora Neale Hurston's Blues Narratives. Adam Gussow. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [313]-326) And Index.

Winner of the 2004 C. Hugh Holman Award from the Society for the Study of Southern Literature.

Seems Like Murder Here offers a revealing new account of the blues tradition. Far from mere laments about lost loves and hard times, the blues emerge in this provocative study as vital responses to spectacle lynchings and the violent realities of African American life in the Jim Crow South. With brilliant interpretations of both classic songs and literary works, from the autobiographies of W. C. Handy, David Honeyboy Edwards, and B. B. King to the poetry of Langston Hughes and the novels of Zora Neale Hurston, Seems Like Murder Here will transform our understanding of the blues and its enduring power.

Blues recording artist and critic Adam Gussow begins his story in the 1890s, when the spectacle lynching of blacks became an insidious part of Southern life. Gussow identifies veiled references to real life incidents of these lynchings within the words of Blues songs and literature.