Dirty Bird Blues

by Clarence Major

Book Overview

A quietly influential force in African American literature and art, Clarence Major makes his Penguin Classics debut with the twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of Dirty Bird Blues

The PRH Audio book of Dirty Bird Blues by Clarence Major won a 2022 EARPHONE AWARD. Narrated by Dion Graham.

A Penguin Classic

Set in post-World War II Chicago and Omaha, the novel features Manfred Banks, a young, harmonica-blowing...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143136593
• ISBN13: 9780143136590
• Release Date: February 2022
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

Major Talent

Excellent from cover to cover. Takes you inside the mind of a hard-luck blues musician in 1950. Clarence Major's way with words is nothing short of astonishing.

A shot of blues

Why is this out of print? Excellent read. I'm looking for more of his novels.

Poor Drunken Hearted Man

Bluesman Manfred Banks is trying to pursue his dream of being a singer and harmonica-player while living up to his responsibilities as a husband and father. Complicating his efforts to walk the straight and narrow are his addiction to booze (the "dirty bird") and the sometimes destructive influence of his friend and musical partner Solly. In describing Man's struggles with both the racist society that attempts to strip him of his dignity and his own inner demons, the author demonstrates his mastery of a rich and poetic prose style that is steeped in the sound and imagery of the blues. This is a fine evocation of African-American life in the American midwest in the middle of the twentieth century.