‘There are those of us in African-American literature who feel that we are heirs to two literary traditions, the western written tradition and the African oral one, and try in the fusion to contribute something to the evolution of both.’ – Arthur Flowers
Flowers was born and raised in Memphis and has been writing and teaching African-American literature at Syracuse University since 1996. A writer, teacher, and Bluesman, Flowers considers himself part of the African-American tradition of writers, incorporating the Blues and pieces of the mystical belief system hoodoo into his work. His books, De Mojo Blues, Another Good Lovin’ Blues, and his most recent, Mojo Rising: Confessions of a 21st Century Conjureman, all continue the literary storytelling traditions of Zora Neale Hurston and others. Another Good Lovin’ Blues is the one novel all Blues fans should read. Set in the Delta and Memphis in 1918, the novel chronicles the story of Lucas Bodeen, a Blues piano player, and Melvira Dupree, a hoodoo conjure woman. Bodeen accurately embodies the archetypal Bluesman, committed to playing an everlasting Blues. Melvira is trying to fuse the traditional and the contemporary, keeping hoodoo traditions alive. Both characters are charged with keeping a cultural tradition that heals the spirit alive. Flowers continues to offer timely observations on politics, literature, culture, struggle, and the Hoodoo Way on his rootwork the rootsblog: a cyberhoodoo webspace.