Scholar Houston A. Baker, Jr. writes that "…the blues song erupts creating a veritable playful festival of meaning. Rather than a rigidly personalized form, the blues offer a phylogenetic recapitulation—a nonlinear, freely associative nonsequential mediation—of species experience" (Blues Ideology 5). Blues musicians, and authors of blues narratives alike, illustrate this "playful festival of meaning" as they create a melody that tells a story of heartbreak and despair. This study will explore the topic of the blues and how it is taken from its oral form and converted into written form in the following novels: Gloria Naylor's Bailey's Cafe, Toni Morrison's Jazz, and Gayl Jones's Corregidora. Although critics have already noted the relationship between oral and literary blues, how authors utilize specific linguistic elements to tell a story remains under explored. By examining the linguistic patterns of a blues song, as well as the function of its many players, I will attempt to start a dialogue towards understanding the indebtedness among contemporary black women novelists to the blues. / A Thesis Submitted to the Department of English in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. / Summer Semester, 2003. / July 7, 2003. / Gloria Naylor Bailey, Gayl Jones, Toni Morrison / Includes bibliographical references. / Maxine Montgomery, Professor Directing Thesis; Jerrilyn McGregory, Committee Member; Hunt Hawkins, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_176121 |
| Contributors | Speller, Chrishawn A. (authoraut), Montgomery, Maxine (professor directing thesis), McGregory, Jerrilyn (committee member), Hawkins, Hunt (committee member), Department of English (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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