Dirty Bird Blues cover art

Dirty Bird Blues

Preview

Try for $0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Dirty Bird Blues

Written by: Clarence Major, Yusef Komunyakaa - foreword, John Beckman - introduction
Narrated by: Dion Graham
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.22

Buy Now for $26.22

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

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 blues singer who is always writing music in his head. Torn between his friendships with fellow musicians and nightclub life and his responsibilities to his wife and child, along with the pressures of dealing with a racist America that assaults him at every turn, Manfred seeks easy answers in "Dirty Bird" (Old Crow whiskey) and in moving on. He moves to Omaha with hopes of better opportunities as a blue-collar worker, but the blues in his soul and the dreams in his mind keep bringing him back to face himself. After a nightmarish descent into his own depths, Manfred emerges with fresh awareness and possibility. Through Manfred, we witness and experience the process by which modern American English has been vitalized and strengthened by the poetry and the poignancy of the African-American experience. As Manfred struggles with the oppressive constraints of society and his private turmoil, his rich inner voice resonates with the blues.

©2022 Clarence Major, Yusef Komunyakaa, John Beckman (P)2022 Penguin Audio
Classics Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Music Celebrity
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What the critics say

“The book’s folkloric street slang is pitch-perfect, and Major deserves much wider recognition for his career as a novelist, painter, poet and explainer of the Black experience in America. This is ultrarealism at its finest.”
—Douglas Brinkley, New York Times Book Review

What listeners say about Dirty Bird Blues

Average Customer Ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.