Love in Vain PB

by Alan Greenberg

Book Overview

Robert Johnson is considered one of the greatest of the Mississippi Delta blues musicians. This screenplay dramatises his life, music and legend in a readable and vivid manner. It is supplemented with extensive historical notes, a selected discography and previously unpublished photographs. Love in Vain is directed by Martin Scorsese for Warner Brothers.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 030680557X
• ISBN13: 9780306805578
• Release Date: March 1994
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

When will someone turn this into a movie?

It's a long way from the Mississippi Delta to Australia but this screenplay allowed me to visualise and feel the passion and raw edge to the music and landscape of Robert Johnson. It seems a shame that no Director has been brave enough to attempt to put this tale onto film as it could surely be an outstanding work if properly attacked. The comprehensive attached notes provide the reader with an opportunity to fill in any gaps in their knowledge to the point where one can almost picture the juke joints with their duelling musicians. The brutality of life in this community was shocking to me and the early death of Robert Johnson now seems to be less of a tragedy and more of an inevitability.

Groundbreaking Book

I never read anything like this before--it was like watching an amazing movie in written form. This unique book is an undiscovered gem.

Best damn book on Robert Johnson or any bluesman, ever.

Robert Johnson was my friend. And I feel that Alan Greenberg sets the record straight about all the lies and crap about Robert's life.

A neglected American masterpiece about a great fallen angel.

First released by Doubleday fifteen years ago, this humble trade paperback is as fine a literary work as any published in our time. This neglected American masterpiece about the great--and greatly mysterious--fallen angel, 1930s blues genius Robert Johnson of Mississippi, is about to be transformed into a cinematic classic as well, directed by Martin Scorsese. "This might be the best movie you'll see all year--even if it's inside your head." --Entertainment Weekly

Unsung, groundbreaking, visionary masterwork for all tastes.

When first published by Doubleday in 1983, this breathtaking work (soon to be directed by Martin Scorsese) was the 1st American screenplay published by a major house as literature. Its 2nd Edition includes a foreword by Martin Scorsese and beautiful photographs by the author. This overlooked work of surpassing brilliance is as great a 'portrait of the artist' as anything yet written into the canon, and its magical spiritual vision of the black soul, and the black artist's soul, is something every human being regardless of race should witness. I defy anyone to put this book down, either physically or critically!