THE STRANGE CAREER OF PORGY AND BESS; RACE, CULTURE, AND AMERICA'S MOST FAMOUS OPERA. (The Strange Career of Porgy & Bess.)

Noonan, Ellen. [George Gershwin, 1898-1937; DuBose Heyward, 1885-1940.]

ISBN 10: 0807837164 / ISBN 13: 9780807837160

Published by Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press [UNC Press], 2012., 2012

About this Item

First edition, first printing (with latter indicated via publisher's descending number line upon copyright page). xvi, 423 pages. Hardcover: H 24.25cm x L 16cm. Dust jacket lightly rubbed. Black boards with copper stamped spine lettering. Erased pencil mark on page 138 but no other such markings readily apparent upon a quick perusal and interior leaves are otherwise clean. Binding is firm. A very good+ copy in a fine dust jacket. {MusicShelf#2} ISBN 9780807837160.

Seller Inventory # Z626X-8219

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE STRANGE CAREER OF PORGY AND BESS; RACE, CULTURE, AND AMERICA'S MOST FAMOUS OPERA. (The Strange Career of Porgy & Bess.)
• Publisher: Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press [UNC Press], 2012.
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807837164
• ISBN 13: 9780807837160
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Music

About this title

Synopsis

Created by George Gershwin and DuBose Heyward and sung by generations of black performers, Porgy and Bess has been both embraced and reviled since its debut in 1935. In this comprehensive account, Ellen Noonan examines the opera’s long history of invention and reinvention as a barometer of twentieth-century American expectations about race, culture, and the struggle for equality. In its surprising endurance lies a myriad of local, national, and international stories.
For black performers and commentators, Porgy and Bess was a nexus for debates about cultural representation and racial uplift. White producers, critics, and even audiences spun revealing racial narratives around the show, initially in an attempt to demonstrate its authenticity and later to keep it from becoming discredited or irrelevant. Expertly weaving together the wide-ranging debates over the original novel, Porgy, and its adaptations on stage and film with a history of its intimate ties to Charleston, The Strange Career of “Porgy and Bess” uncovers the complexities behind one of our nation’s most long-lived cultural touchstones.

About the Author

Ellen Noonan is a historian, educator, and media producer at the American Social History Project, the Graduate Center, City University of New York.