| A Tree Accurst: Bobby McMillon and Stories of Frankie Silver Contributor(s): Patterson, Daniel W. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0807848735 ISBN-13: 9780807848739 Publisher: University of North Carolina Press OUR PRICE: $40.38 Product Type: Paperback Published: October 2000 Annotation: In the 1830s, young Frankie Silver was tried and hung for killing her husband with an axe and burning the body in their home in the N.C. mountains. Now, 170 years later, the story still has a grip on the community and in the wider world, where it has been kept alive by a ballad, local legends, fiction, drama, and news accounts. Using the Silver case, this book examines the interplay between folklore and history. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Folklore & Mythology - History | United States - State & Local - General - Fiction | Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology |
| Dewey: 398.232 |
| LCCN: 00036385 |
| Lexile Measure: 1680 |
| Physical Information: 0.58" H x 5.77" W x 9.27" (0.70 lbs) 240 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Cultural Region - Deep South - Cultural Region - Southeast U.S. - Geographic Orientation - North Carolina |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: On a wintry night in 1831, a man named Charlie Silver was murdered with an axe and his body burned in a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. His young wife, Frankie Silver, was tried and hanged for the crime. In later years people claimed that a tree growing near the ruins of the old cabin was cursed--that anyone who climbed into it would be unable to get out. Daniel Patterson uses this accurst tree as a metaphor for the grip the story of the murder has had on the imaginations of the local community, the wider world, and the noted Appalachian traditional singer and storyteller Bobby McMillon. For nearly 170 years, the memory of Frankie Silver has been kept alive by a ballad and local legends and by the news accounts, fiction, plays, and other works they inspired. Weaving Bobby McMillon's personal story--how and why he became a taleteller and what this story means to him--into an investigation of the Silver murder, Patterson explores the genesis and uses of folklore and the interplay between folklore, social and personal history, law, and narrative as people and communities try to understand human character and fate. Bobby McMillon is a furniture and hospital worker in Lenoir, North Carolina, with deep roots in Appalachia and a lifelong passion for learning and performing traditional songs and tales. He has received a North Carolina Folk Heritage Award from the state's Arts Council and also the North Carolina Folklore Society's Brown-Hudson Folklore Award. |
Contributor Bio(s): Patterson, Daniel W.: - Daniel W. Patterson is Kenan Professor Emeritus of English and Folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in Chapel Hill. |