Seems Like Murder Here: Southern Violence and the Blues Tradition (Paperback)

~ (Author) "One of the most representative stanzas in the blues lyric tradition flirts with suicide before veering toward life..." (more)
Key Phrases: primal lynching scene, blues literary tradition, blues lyric tradition, New York, Tea Cake, African American (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Beneath the effusive and effervescent tone of Mister Satan's Apprentice lie gnawing questions of race and identity, of cultural imperialism and human connection. And precisely because Gussow stays close to his story, with all its eccentricity and youthful abandon, he arrives at a kind of profundity that eludes [most] commentators." - Samuel G. Freedman, Washington Post Book World

Product Description

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.

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Product Details Paperback: 360 pages Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (December 1, 2002) Language: English ISBN-10: 0226310981 ISBN-13: 978-0226310985 Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #359,589 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
One of the most representative stanzas in the blues lyric tradition flirts with suicide before veering toward life. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
primal lynching scene, blues literary tradition, blues lyric tradition, been drinking that stuff, passional economy, jook life, haunted house blues, lynching blues, early blues song, blues literature, violent vitality, abandonment blues, spectacle lynching, cultural haunting, southern nightmare, blues subject, blues repetitions, blues culture, crazy blues, pain remorseless, lynching fever, tribal literacy, romantic abandonment, black beast rapist, disciplinary violence

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Tea Cake, African American, Big Sweet, Bessie Smith, New Orleans, Indianapolis Freeman, Mamie Smith, Zora Neale Hurston, Polk County, Railroad Bill, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Paul Oliver, Beale Street, David Evans, Mance Lipscomb, Jim Crow South, Alan Lomax, Muddy Waters, Strange Fruit, Robert Charles, Willie Dixon, Albert Murray, Chapel Hill

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

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Citations (learn more)

7 books cite this book:

• Russia Gets the Blues: Music, Culture, and Community in Unsettled Times (Culture and Society After Socialism) by Michael E. Urban in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
• The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Blues by David Evans in Back Matter
• Blues: The Basics (Basics (Routledge Paperback)) by Dick Weissman on page 169
• Mojo Triangle: Birthplace Of Country, Blues, Jazz & Rock N Roll by James L. Dickerson in Front Matter
• The Sounds of Slavery: Discover African American History through Songs, Sermons, and Speech by Shane White in Back Matter

See all 7 books citing this book

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Books on Related Topics (learn more)

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"Born in a Mighty Bad Land" by Jerry H. Bryant

Discusses:

• black badman
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• Tea Cake

Blues for Dummies by Lonnie Brooks

Discusses:

• crazy blues
• Bessie Smith
• Mamie Smith

Keys to the Rain by Oliver Trager

Discusses:

• romantic abandonment
• Paul Oliver
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Broadcasting the Blues by Paul Oliver

Discusses:

• blues literature
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• Mamie Smith

Escaping the Delta by Elijah Wald Discusses: crazy blues Bessie Smith Mamie Smith The Devil's Music by Giles Oakley Discusses: blues subject crazy blues barrelhouse circuit "Born in a Mighty Bad Land" by Jerry H. Bryant Discusses: black badman badman tradition Tea Cake Blues for Dummies by Lonnie Brooks Discusses: crazy blues Bessie Smith Mamie Smith Loading...

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	73% buy the item featured on this page: Seems Like Murder Here: Southern Violence and the Blues Tradition 3.7 out of 5 stars (3) $25.00
	12% buy Mister Satan's Apprentice: A Blues Memoir 4.8 out of 5 stars (12) $12.89
	12% buy Journeyman's Road: Modern Blues Lives from Faulkner's Mississippi to Post-9/11 New York 5.0 out of 5 stars (5) $14.93
	4% buy The Rose & the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad 3.9 out of 5 stars (9) $16.95

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews 5 star:  (1) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 3.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 9 of 9 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Race and Art in America, July 21, 2005 By  Henry David "walker40" (Concord, MA USA) - See all my reviews Adam Gussow has written an absorbing and innovative study of American "blues texts" over the past century, demonstrating that this genre permeates several media, from music and fiction to autobiography and journalism, and that a pervasive theme in the blues, even its prime initiative, is a response to the wave of race murders and lynchings that occurred in the Southern states after 1890. "Spectacle lynchings," widely-publicized acts of mob vigilance, gave rise to a rhetoric of retribution in the blues, understandably directed toward white oppressors, but also more tragically toward black bodies and souls. The complex burden of the blues, Gussow argues, is to perform rites of exorcism that re-enact violence without the comfort of catharsis or transubtantiation, the usual consequences of tragedy. His chapters successively explore the subjects of lynchings, dismemberment, murder, riot, and knifings, each time through a central author or text, set amidst a rich array of ancillary texts and voices. The chapters are models of rigorous historical research and intelligently modulated critical discussion. This book is an accurate and eloquently argued work of cultural imagination. It raises deeply troubling questions about race and art in America, and it will endure for a long while as a very distinguished publication. 2 of 3 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Not for the faint of heart, September 17, 2007 By  John R. Stanley (Shongaloo, LA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    This was an interesting read though a bit too scholarly at times. I am a fan of Mr. Gussows work and while I enjoyed this book I don't know if it will be everyone's cup of tea. If you have an interest in the subject matter I do recommend this to you as there is nothing else out there quite like it. 10 of 31 people found the following review helpful: 2.0 out of 5 stars Ambitious thesis, disappointing results, February 3, 2003 By A Customer Adam starts out with a very difficult to support thesis, that bogs down in incredable academic leaps of faith. Not only does he not provide adequately provide support for the theme of his book; he almost abandons trying to half way through. The chapter focusing on Mamie Smith's "Crazy Blues" was refreshing and eye opening, but the rest of the book does not sway one to ackowledge the validity of his point. The constant use of "Blues Literature" to support his theory of real worl dblue falls short by nature, being that the blues authors quoted wrote fiction where is by its essence prone to exagerationa nd romanticism and can not convincingly back up his point about white oppression and violence being the backbone of almost all blues music and acting as a coded message universally gotten by the black blues audience. The academic nature of this book loses touch with the reality of things.		Ad feedback   Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (December 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226310981
• ISBN-13: 978-0226310985
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #359,589 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Race and Art in America, July 21, 2005

By	Henry David "walker40" (Concord, MA USA) - See all my reviews

Adam Gussow has written an absorbing and innovative study of American "blues texts" over the past century, demonstrating that this genre permeates several media, from music and fiction to autobiography and journalism, and that a pervasive theme in the blues, even its prime initiative, is a response to the wave of race murders and lynchings that occurred in the Southern states after 1890. "Spectacle lynchings," widely-publicized acts of mob vigilance, gave rise to a rhetoric of retribution in the blues, understandably directed toward white oppressors, but also more tragically toward black bodies and souls. The complex burden of the blues, Gussow argues, is to perform rites of exorcism that re-enact violence without the comfort of catharsis or transubtantiation, the usual consequences of tragedy.

His chapters successively explore the subjects of lynchings, dismemberment, murder, riot, and knifings, each time through a central author or text, set amidst a rich array of ancillary texts and voices. The chapters are models of rigorous historical research and intelligently modulated critical discussion. This book is an accurate and eloquently argued work of cultural imagination. It raises deeply troubling questions about race and art in America, and it will endure for a long while as a very distinguished publication.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for the faint of heart, September 17, 2007

By	John R. Stanley (Shongaloo, LA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This was an interesting read though a bit too scholarly at times. I am a fan of Mr. Gussows work and while I enjoyed this book I don't know if it will be everyone's cup of tea. If you have an interest in the subject matter I do recommend this to you as there is nothing else out there quite like it.

10 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ambitious thesis, disappointing results, February 3, 2003

By A Customer

Adam starts out with a very difficult to support thesis, that bogs down in incredable academic leaps of faith. Not only does he not provide adequately provide support for the theme of his book; he almost abandons trying to half way through. The chapter focusing on Mamie Smith's "Crazy Blues" was refreshing and eye opening, but the rest of the book does not sway one to ackowledge the validity of his point. The constant use of "Blues Literature" to support his theory of real worl dblue falls short by nature, being that the blues authors quoted wrote fiction where is by its essence prone to exagerationa nd romanticism and can not convincingly back up his point about white oppression and violence being the backbone of almost all blues music and acting as a coded message universally gotten by the black blues audience. The academic nature of this book loses touch with the reality of things.