Sitting Up with the Dead: A Storied Journey through the American South

by Pamela Petro, Jimmy Neil Smith (Foreword)

For the first time in paperback, an acclaimed look at the American South through the lenses of its most acclaimed storytellers and their tales.

Rarely does a nonfiction work come along that is as original and refreshing as Sitting Up with the Dead . Here, take a ride with Pamela Petro as she embarks on a series of road trips through the states of the Old South to collect its stories and meet its tellers of traditional tales. Some of them are local celebrities, others national treasures. Among them are Ray Hicks, a National Heritage Fellow; Kathryn Windham, the “ghost lady”; Nancy Basket, a kudzu paper-maker; Colonel Rod, self-proclaimed “Florida cracker”; and Grammy Award-winner David Holt. You encounter plat-eyes and boo-hags, Jack the trickster and Brer Rabbit, mule eggs, singing turtles, talking corpses, and flying Africans from the sea islands of South Carolina.

Stories provide the connective tissue of the South, linking the past with the present. They join communities as widespread as the coastal plains of the Carolinas and Georgia, the swamps of the Gulf Coast, and the mountains and valleys of Appalachia. As distinctly American as jazz, they blend cultures and oral traditions as diverse as those of southern England, Ireland, West Africa, and native America. They contain bits of lived history, both from before the Civil War and after. In Sitting Up with the Dead , Pamela Petro offers a paradoxical wake for the undying body of the Old South, to hear its truths and contemplate its robust afterlife in the tallest, “lyingest,” most fruitful, and most haunting of its tales.

Genres: Nonfiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2002

About the author

Pamela writes books and essays, takes photos--which she sometimes prints on rocks, or purposely shoots out of focus by moving her camera- teaches, and lives with her partner (and forthcoming puppy!) in Northampton, MA. Her new book is called The Long Field - A Memoir, Wales, and the Presence of Absence. It's about how the small country of Wales became a big part of her life. When she's not writing, making art, traveling to Wales--or just traveling--or reading, cooking, playing tennis, and writing emails, she teaches Creative Nonfiction on Lesley University's MFA in Creative Writing Program and at Smith College. She's also Co-Director of the Dylan Thomas Summer School in Creative Writing (open to everyone!) at the University of Wales Trinity St David, in Lampeter, Wales.

Here's her website: https://www.pamelapetro.com

Here's an essay she wrote that she really likes: https://www.harvardreview.org/content...

And here's another essay with some of her curious photos: https://www.guernicamag.com/shedding-...

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love stories and tales. I've heard them all my life; one of my earliest memories is begging my grandmother to "tell me tales." In college, I discovered so many of these old stories were older still--how the "Froggy Went A-Courtin'" song my Granddaddy taught me dated back to the courtship of Elizabeth I and the Duke of Anjou, or how my great-grandfather's "Who's Got My Big Toe?" came with the family from Ireland, centuries before.

This book is a gathering of stories and storytellers from all over the South. It starts with a forward from the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN (gee, it's grown since we went as kids), and ends in the swamps of Louisiana. It's history as story and parables, as memories and dreams. Some I'd heard--Wicked John, The Grey Man--and most I hadn't. It's a good book, and a thoughtful one. If you like such, I recommend this winding book. Then, go listen to The Moonlit Road podcast.

[Vickie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was not at all what I thought it would be - a road trip story in the south. It was about one woman's journey to learn more about the art and history of story-telling, which is most strong in the south. There were tonnes of references to the Civil War and a lot about the history of the south and slavery.

At times I found the protagonist a little indulgent - this was like a prolonged thesis, but nonetheless it was also full of interesting stories and you can do your own research into some of her muses, including people like Ray Hicks.

Well worth it, if you want to know more about the south or have an interest in theatre/ story telling.

[Patti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to this on audio. It was great, on the whole; at times it got to be a bit too many stories to read/listen to. But, to its credit, it felt like I was listening to the stories of the storytellers that the book is about.