The Bull-Jean Stories

by Sharon Bridgforth

Fiction. African-American studies. Gay and lesbian studies. Using traditional storytelling and nontraditional verse to chronicle the course of love returning in the lifetimes of one woman-loving-woman named bull-dog-jean, the bull-jeanstories give cultural documentation and social commentary on African-American herstory and survival. Set in the rural South of the 1920s, the bull-jean stories herald the spirit of African-American people.

Genres: Poetry, Queer, Fiction, LGBT, Lesbian, Short Stories

109 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Bridgforth is RedBone Press author of" love conjure/blues" and the Lambda Literary Award winning, "the bull-jean stories". She, Omi Osun Joni L. Jones and Lisa L. Moore are co-editors of "Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic: Art, Activism, Academia, and the Austin Project", University of Texas Press. Anthologies that feature her work include: "solo/black/woman: Scripts, Interviews, and Essays", Eds. E. Patrick Johnson and Ramon Rivera-Servera, Northwestern University Press; "Blacktino Queer Performance", Eds. E. Patrick Johnson and Ramon Rivera-Servera, Duke University Press; ."Windy City Queer: GLBTQ Dispatches from the Third Coast", Ed Kathie Bergquist, University of Wisconsin Press; "First Person Queer: Who We Are (So Far), Eds. Richard Labonte & Lawrence Schim"el, Arsenal Pulp Press; "New Monologues For Women By Women", Eds. Liz Engelman & Tori Haring-Smith, Heinemann; and "Is This Forever, Or What?: Poems & Paintings From Texas", Ed. Naomi Shihab Nye, Greenwillow. Her "River See: Theatrical Jazz Performance Installation" script is featured in Obsidian Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, Issue 43.1. Bridgforth's current project, "dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/Home" will premiere in 2018. An imagined "dat Black Mermaid Man Lady/Home" performance is published in "Imagined Theatres: Writing for a Theoretical Stage".

Reviews

[Rena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, Southern-fried poetic masterpiece.

[Mollie Murbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommend listening to the audiobook while reading this. It’s available for free on Spotify and it’s impeccably produced.

[Derek Sands · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. The language of this is so poetic and hypnotic. The stories are fun and heartwarming and bittersweet and beautiful. Unforgettable

[Katie M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw Sharon Bridgforth read a few of these stories out loud once, which was just about perfect - they're performance pieces really, which means they're at least twice as good if you can imagine them being talked while you're reading.

[phia · Rating 4 out of 5]

reading this while listening to the audiobook makes its 100x more dynamic and enjoyable
if you’re not southern/don’t know the accents/dialect it really helps you imagine how this writing style sounds when spoken
beautiful

[Gabriel Atchison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book for our book group. Especially when we read from it aloud.