Deep Water: The Mississippi River in the Age of Mark Twain
2021; Oxford University Press; Volume: 108; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/jahist/jaab009
ISSN1945-2314
Autores Tópico(s)American Environmental and Regional History
ResumoIn Deep Water Thomas Ruys Smith provides an excellent perspective on the multilayered, ever-changing cultural meanings and uses of the Mississippi River in Mark Twain's lifetime. Beginning with Twain's early days as a steamboat pilot, Smith weaves a narrative that explores Twain's imaginative use of the river against a backdrop of images left by other writers, journalists, travelers, artists, poets, and musicians of the era. As a result, we get, for the first time in a single volume, a vibrant, interdisciplinary portrayal of life and labor along the river, as well as a richer understanding of the river's lifelong cultural imprint on Twain. In a particularly engaging chapter, “Runaways, Roustabouts, and the Limits of Freedom,” Smith examines how romanticized representations of black life on the river competed with much harsher images and collided with the stark day-to-day realities faced by African Americans. Antebellum minstrelsy cast a long shadow into the late nineteenth century and well beyond. As steamboat deck crews turned from white to black, the brutally exploited black roustabout emerged as a central figure in American popular culture, linked closely to minstrelsy. Black roustabouts, though often portrayed in travelers' accounts as lazy, adapted field holler chants to a levee rhythm that allowed them a measure of control over the pace of labor. The songs they sang anticipated blues, jazz, and ragtime.
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