THE CURSES: Part II: The Curse of the Dreamer

Sullivan features Paul Dresser, a successful songwriter of the 19th century. Paul loved his mother to the point of awe. His entire songbook is shot through with his feelings for her. When dismissive twentieth century critics referred to the pop music of the 1890s as "mother songs," they we...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Sewanee review 2017-04, Vol.125 (2), p.243-295
Main Author: SULLIVAN, JOHN JEREMIAH
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
19th century
20th century
American history
American literature
Dreiser, Theodore (1871-1945)
Dresser, Paul
Music
Nonfiction
Personal profiles
Plot (Narrative)
Siblings
Singers
Songwriters
Vaudeville
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Sullivan features Paul Dresser, a successful songwriter of the 19th century. Paul loved his mother to the point of awe. His entire songbook is shot through with his feelings for her. When dismissive twentieth century critics referred to the pop music of the 1890s as "mother songs," they were thinking mainly of Dresser. He had used the phrase himself with pride. In his hands, it became a thriving genre and helped bring about the creation, two years after his death, of Mother's Day.
ISSN:0037-3052
1934-421X
1934-421X
DOI:10.1353/sew.2017.0025