Twice-told tales about historic Charleston
‘You ask for a story. I will tell you one, fact for fact and true for true.’ So begins ‘Crook-Neck Dick, ‘ one of twenty-three stories in this beguiling collection of Charleston lore. John Bennett’s interpretations of the legends shared with him by African-descended Charlestonians have entertained generations. Among them are tales of ghosts, conjuring, superhuman feats, and supernatural powers; accounts of ingenuity, humor, terror, mystery, and solidarity will enchant folklorists, students of Charleston history, and all those who love a good ghost story.
Julia Eichelberger, the Marybelle Higgins Howe Professor of Southern Literature and an executive board member of the Center for Study of Slavery at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, provides an introduction.
Tabela de Conteúdo
Introduction: Remembering and Rewriting Gullah Narratives
An Introductory Comment
1. The Doctor to the Dead
2. The Death of the Wandering Jew
3. Madame Margot
4. The Black Constable
5. Tales from the Trapman Street Hospital
6. All God’s Chillen Had Wings
7. The Measure of Grief
8. The Enchanted Cloak
9. The Young Wife Whose Vine Meloned Beyond the Fence
10. Death and the Two Bachelors
11. When the Dead Sang in Their Graves
12. Rolling Rio and the Gray Man; Or, The Gift of Strength
13. The Remember Service
14. A Young Girl’s Virtue Preserved by the Devil
15. Crook-Neck Dick
16. Louis Alexander
17. The Apothecary and The Mermaid
18. The Man Who Wouldn’t Believe He Was Dead
19. Daid Aaron, I
20. Daid Aaron, II
21. Buried Treasure; Or, The Two Bold Fisherman
Sobre o autor
John Bennett (1865–1956) was a novelist, artist, essayist, and poet of international acclaim who played a fundamental role in the Charleston Renaissance. His other books include the beloved children’s story Master Skylark: A Story of Shakespeare’s Time and The Treasure of Peyre Gaillard.