Clowns in the Burying Ground

“Critics have long praised the Grateful Dead’s music and lyrics for their power and evocativeness, but we have never had a sustained examination of how the band tapped the wellsprings of Western literature as inspirations and influences. Coffman’s timely analysis provides a groundbreaking study that will appeal to both aficionados and to those curious about why the Dead have attracted so many generations of thoughtful listeners.”—Nicholas G. Meriwether, series editor of Studies in the Grateful Dead

“Coffman’s literary analysis of the lyrics is bolstered by deft attention to the sonic force-fields and amplified techno-sounds that make the popular music of a group like the GD so vital to the world-making and soul-transforming power recognized and needed by its rock audience across different generations and world contexts. Coffman’s approach enacts how the GD lyrics and music still are haunting and can live on and on across generations and contexts.”—Rob Wilson, author of Oceanic Becoming: The Pacific beneath the Pavements

"Coffman’s book feels especially timely—and, counterintuitively, hopeful. . . . [T]he Dead are undeniably entangled with a deep and wide-reaching tradition of literature. And, as we lose the band’s final members, reflecting on the traditions they came from reminds us where they will return to."—Christian Kriticos, Los Angeles Review of Books

"Coffman astutely draws on a wide range of literary texts as he reads various songs to illustrate the ways the band achieves their evocative intertextuality. . . . Clowns in the Burying Ground will repay attentive readings for it introduces a fresh approach to the Grateful Dead that acknowledges and helps to reveal the deep literary and philosophical sources of the Dead’s music and performances."—Henry Carrigan, No Depression