Playing The Game Our Own Way: A Social Perspective on Jazz and Blues in Southern Literature

Author

Landon Christian Pollard

Date of Award

2006

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

English

First Advisor

Adam Gussow

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

This project is an attempt to examine the social realm of jazz and blues music within Southern literature. Specifically, this thesis analyzes works of fiction, combined with knowledge of scholarly articles and essays, to draw conclusions and parallels between jazz and blues music and the selected works within Southern literature. The first chapter focuses primarily on the social role of the jazz and blues musicians, defining and exploring the way in which these musicians move within social space. The second chapter focuses on Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, using the aspiring jazz musician as a model for the novel and journey of the narrator. And the third chapter explicates selected passages from four different novels - Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eves Were Watching God. Albert Murray’s Train Whistle Guitar. Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, and Herbert Simmons’s Man Walking On Eggshells - and argues that the text and dialogue of the passages perform as jazz and/or blues music.

Recommended Citation

Pollard, Landon Christian, "Playing The Game Our Own Way: A Social Perspective on Jazz and Blues in Southern Literature" (2006). Honors Theses. 2247.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/2247

Accessibility Status

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