{"product_id":"poor-pearl-poor-girl-the-murdered-girl-stereotype-in-ballad-and-newspaper-9780292764682","title":"Poor Pearl, Poor Girl!: The Murdered-Girl Stereotype in Ballad and Newspaper","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe year was 1896, and nineteenth-century journalists called the murder of Pearl Bryan the \"Crime of the Century.\" From the day Pearl's headless body was found to the execution of her murderers on the gallows, the details of the murder fascinated newspaper reporters and ballad composers alike.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOften glossing over the facts of the case, newspaper accounts presented the events according to stereotypes that were remarkably similar to those found in well-known murdered-girl ballads, such as \"Pretty Polly,\" \"Omie Wise,\" and \"The Jealous Lover.\" Events, characters, motivations, and plot were presented through this framework: the simple country girl led astray by a clever degenerate. Nearly all variants of the Pearl Bryan ballad point the same moral: \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eYoung ladies now take warning\u003cbr\u003e Young men are so unjust, \u003cbr\u003e It may be your best lover\u003cbr\u003e But you know not whom to trust.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eRepresentations of this formula appear in such diverse genres as the ballad \"Poor Ellen Smith\" and the novel \u003ci\u003eAn American Tragedy\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAs Anne Cohen demonstrates, both newspaper accounts and ballads tell the Pearl Bryan story from the same moral stance, express the same interpretation of character, and are interested in the same details. Both distort facts to accommodate a shared pattern of storytelling. This pattern consists of a plot formula-the murdered-girl formula-that is accompanied by stereotyped scenes, actors, and phrases. The headless body-surely the most striking element in the Pearl Bryan case-is absent from those ballads that have survived. Anne Cohen contends that a decapitated heroine does not belong to the formula-a murdered heroine, yes, but not a decapitated one. Similarly, newspapers made much of Pearl's \"innocence\" and tended to downplay the second murderer. Only one murderer, the lover, belongs to the stereotype.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003ePoor Pearl, Poor Girl!\u003c\/i\u003e is a ballad study conducted on historic- geographic lines; that is, it seeks to trace the history and interrelations of a series of ballad texts and to relate the ballads directly to their ideological and historical context in the American scene. It also compares the narrative techniques of ballad composition with the techniques of other forms of popular narrative, especially newspaper journalism.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Anne B. Cohen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Texas Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/01\/1973\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSeries:\u003c\/b\u003e American Folklore Society Memoir #58\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 148\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.40h x 5.50w x 0.50d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780292764682","brand":"University of Texas Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44348916334729,"sku":"9780292764682","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_ea5a0e3f-10c6-4b51-9679-99d3c068dc07.jpg?v=1750803007","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/poor-pearl-poor-girl-the-murdered-girl-stereotype-in-ballad-and-newspaper-9780292764682","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}