Carson McCullers - Cultural References

Cultural References

McCullers' narration of The Member of the Wedding was used by Jarvis Cocker on his debut album, Jarvis. It forms the introduction to the song "Big Julie" and consists of an edited (or slightly mangled) version of the opening lines of the book:

"It happened that green and crazy summer. It was a summer when for a long time she had not been a member. She belonged to no club and she was a member of nothing in the world. And she was afraid."

Sue Denim of the band Robots in Disguise references McCullers along with other writers in the song "For JT and Carson and Emily" in her solo project Sue and the Unicorn.

Paul Westerberg refers to Carson McCullers in his song "Dice Behind Your Shades."

Nanci Griffith's album Clock Without Hands is in part inspired by McCullers' novel of that title.

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is referred to in the movie A Love Song for Bobby Long; the main character's mother always carried the novel with her and read it over and over again.

Charles Bukowski wrote an eponymous poem about her.

Tennessee Williams dedicated his 1948 play Summer and Smoke and the poem "Which is my little boy (Jean qui rit)" to her.

In the movie Con Air, Ving Rhames's character Diamond Dog is said to have written a memoir entitled Reflections in a Diamond Eye.

Carson McCullers Talks About Love, a new musical about the author's life written by Suzanne Vega and Duncan Sheik and performed by Vega, opened at the Rattlestick Playwright's Theater in New York City in May 2011.

The musical February House, a co-production by the Long Wharf Theatre and New York's Public Theater in 2012 features Carson McCullers as one of the major characters and depicts her relationship with George Davis as well as her friendships with W. H. Auden and Erika Mann. Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears, Gypsy Rose Lee, George Davis, Reeves McCullers and Auden's then lover, Chester Kallman, are also prominently featured.