Fictional Blues: Narrative Self-Invention From Bessie Smith to Jack White
Kimberly Mack
University of Massachusetts Press
Using examples of fictional and real-life blues artists, Mack unpacks the figure of the American blues performer to reveal that blues makers have long used their songs, performances, interviews, and writings to invent personas that resist racial, social, economic, and gendered expression. "The whole history of the blues as a unique blend of tall tales and self-revelation."