{"product_id":"the-blues-muse-race-gender-and-musical-celebrity-in-american-poetry-paperback-softback-9780817359942","title":"The Blues Muse; Race, Gender, and Musical Celebrity in American Poetry (Paperback \/ softback) 9780817359942","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eThe Blues Muse\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eRace, Gender, and Musical Celebrity in American Poetry\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eEmily Ruth Rutter (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780817359942\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 2 June 2020\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e228 pages\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm, 0.355 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eWriting from a feminist, multicultural perspective, Rutter builds on a wealth of literary studies about jazz and poetry, work by the likes of Sascha Feinstein, David Yaffe, and Emily Lordi. . . . Rutter focuses on blues masters and how they have inspired poets, starting in the Harlem Renaissance and continuing through the Black Arts movement into the present day. . . . Though rooted in popular culture, this treatment is complex as it considers gender, race, ‘musical celebrity,’ and the aesthetics of song and poetry.\"—\u003ci\u003eCHOICE\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e“The Blues Muse\u003c\/i\u003e is an impressively informative, exceptionally detailed, scholarly study that spans nearly one hundred years of literary and musical history ranging from the New Negro Renaissance to the present. . . . Rutter’s expert analysis is clear, compelling, and rich in critical assessments of these writers’ portraits of the musical artists, attending to their strategies and oversights.\"—\u003ci\u003eLibrary Bookwatch, Midwest Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An impressively researched and lucidly written analysis of nearly one hundred years of American poetry inspired by Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Lead Belly, and Robert Johnson—those ‘blues muses’ whose complex lives, art, personae, and historiographies have made them especially rich and persistent subjects for white and black American poets alike.\"—Emily J. Lordi, author of \u003ci\u003eBlack Resonance: Iconic Women Singers and African American Literature\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDonny Hathaway’s Donny Hathaway Live\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Blues Muse\u003c\/i\u003eis an interesting and valuable work which will be of particular interest to those teaching American poetry with an emphasis on its connections with African American vernacular musical traditions.\"—Erich Nunn, author of \u003ci\u003eSounding the Color Line: Music and Race in the Southern Imagination\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eA critical analysis of the poetic representations and legacies of five landmark blues artists\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Blues Muse: Race, Gender, and Musical Celebrity in American Poetry \u003c\/i\u003efocuses on five key blues musicians and singers—Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Robert Johnson, and Lead Belly—and traces the ways in which these artists and their personas have been invoked and developed throughout American poetry. This study spans nearly one hundred years of literary and musical history, from the New Negro Renaissance to the present.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Emily Ruth Rutter not only examines blues musicians as literary touchstones or poetic devices, but also investigates the relationship between poetic constructions of blues icons and shifting discourses of race and gender. Rutter’s nuanced analysis is clear, compelling, and rich in critical assessments of these writers’ portraits of the musical artists, attending to their strategies and oversights.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAcknowledgments\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIntroduction: The Blues Muse Tradition\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e1. “\u003cbr\u003eDon’\u003cbr\u003et Like My Ocean, Don’\u003cbr\u003et Fish in My Sea”\u003cbr\u003e: Blues Muses, Racial Uplift, and Queer Camaraderie\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e2. “\u003cbr\u003eNever Was a White Man Had the Blues”\u003cbr\u003e: Blues Icons and Black Power\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e3. “\u003cbr\u003eI Ain’\u003cbr\u003et Gonna Marry, Ain’\u003cbr\u003et Gonna Settle Down”\u003cbr\u003e: Blues Women and Intersectionality\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e4. “\u003cbr\u003eBlues Falling Down Like Hail”\u003cbr\u003e: Blues Men and the Second-Wave Blues Revival\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e5. “\u003cbr\u003eIt’\u003cbr\u003es Gonna Carry Me through This World”\u003cbr\u003e: The Post-Soul Blues Muse\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCoda. Repetition with a Difference: BeyoncÉ\u003cbr\u003e Knowles-Carter as Muse\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNotes\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBibliography\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIndex\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"The University of Alabama Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52574419124504,"sku":"9780817359942","price":22.19,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/the-blues-muse-race-gender-and-musical-celebrity-in-american-poetry-paperback-softback-9780817359942","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}