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Sto caricando le informazioni... Porgy (Players Press)di DuBose Heyward, Dubose Heyward, William-Alan Landes (A cura di)
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Appartiene alle Collane Editoriali
The fictional characters of Porgy, Bess, Black Maria, Sportin' Life, and the other Gullah denizens of Catfish Row have attained a mythic status and have become inextricably identified with Charleston. This novel is the story of Porgy, a crippled street-beggar in the black tenement. Unwashed and un-wanted, he lives just on the edge of subsistence and trusts his fate to the gods and chance. His one shining moment is his pursuit of Bess, whom he wins and then loses during one summer of passion and violence. This story by DuBose Heyward is, of course, the origin of George Gershwin's acclaimed folk opera Porgy and Bess. Heyward created Porgy with such sympathy, honesty, and insight that Porgy has ascended into the pantheon of the universal. This Banner Books edition includes an afterword by James M. Hutchisson, Heyward's biographer, who places Porgy in its social and historical context and shows how the novel revolutionized American literature. Heyward had no literary training, and he wrote Porgy while working as an insurance agent. It is ironic that this deeply feeling author was a member of the Charleston aristocracy which regarded African Americans as little more than servants. Indeed, the tightly knit black community is celebrated in the novel and is contrasted with Charleston's white culture, which in Heyward's view lacked the vitality and rich social ethos of the Gullahs. In 1927, even before Gershwin transformed the novel with a musical score, the book was successfully dramatized for the New York stage. The production revolutionized the black theater movement with its casting of black actors. Porgy, published in 1925, proved to be on the leading edge of the great southern renaissance, in which works by William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, and others would depict black characters of increasing emotional and psychological complexity. The novel has gone through seven editions and has been translated into French, Gullah, and German, among other languages and dialects. DuBose Heyward (1885-1940) published Porgy to tremendous critical acclaim and financial success. He wrote poetry, short fiction, plays, and screenplays. James M. Hutchisson is a professor of English at The Citadel in Charleston. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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 Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni...GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)813.52Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1900-1944Classificazione LCVotoMedia: (3.94)
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This story is a moving, empathetic portrayal of poor urban blacks in the American South in the 1920's, an uncommon storyline for its time. The primary characters are fully fleshed out, with hopes and dreams, strengths and flaws. It contains one of the most dramatic and realistic scenes of riding out the storm surge of a hurricane that I have ever read. The story is well-framed, and the writing is beautifully poetic.
“But Porgy best loved the late afternoons, when the street was quiet again, and the sunlight, deep with colour, shot level over the low roof of the apothecary shop to paint the cream stucco on the opposite dwelling a ruddy gold and turn the old rain-washed tiles on the roof to burnished copper. Then the slender, white-clad lady who lived in the house would throw open the deep French windows of the second story drawing room, and sitting at the piano, where Porgy could see her dimly, she would play on through the dusk until old Peter drove by with his wagon to carry him home.”
The only difficulty, at least initially, is the dialogue, which is written in dialect. I thought it was supposed to be southern, but it didn’t seem to fit, so I looked it up and it is Gullah, a creole language that evolved during the slavery years on the Sea Islands, located off the coast of the southeastern U.S. As the novel progressed, I figured out the syntax and it flowed much better.
This book is a full of sensory details, providing a vivid sense of the Gullah culture and community. It is slim, but powerful. I found it poignant and expressive, fully deserving of a place on my list of modern classics.
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