Description
Book SynopsisFrom slave narratives to the Civil War, and from country music to Southern sport, this book presents the literature and culture of the American South. It includes discussion of the visual arts, music, society, history, and politics in the region. It explores the work of Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, William Faulkner, and Zora Neale Huston.
Trade Review"The exhaustive range of part 2, "Themes and Issues" merits praise. Rather than focussing on literature or a narrow definition of culture, the editors have solicited some fine essays in subjects ranging from music and religion to sports and popular culture." (
American Studies, April 2009)
A CHOICE ‘OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE’
“The latest volume in Blackwell's "Companions to Literature and Culture" series features 33 brief essays that run the gamut of the Southern experience, from the Jamestown settlers to the contemporary era…Like Blackwell guides, the quality of the essays is high, and the authors cover as many points as possible within the space limits given them. Highly recommended. All academic and public libraries.” (Choice)
"[T]he many contributors, British and American, to this splendid compendium of fact and opinion demonstrate the rich variety of literature and music that has emanated from the South in the past 150 years [...] The Companion is methodical in its overall structure and is comprehensive, informative and clearly written throughout. Each chapter has extensive lists of references and further reading and the index is full and accurate. This is a work that will remain a vital source for students of the subject and that can be profitably used by readers in general." (Reference Reviews)
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments x
Notes on Contributors xii
List of Plates xviii
PART I Introduction 1
1 Writing Southern Cultures 3
Richard Gray
PART II Themes and Issues 27
2 The First Southerners: Jamestown’s Colonists as Exemplary Figures 29
Mary C. Fuller
3 Slave Narratives 43
Jerry Phillips
4 Plantation Fiction 58
John M. Grammer
5 The Slavery Debate 76
Susan-Mary Grant
6 Southern Writers and the Civil War 93
Susan-Mary Grant
7 Visualizing the Poor White 110
Stuart Kidd
8 Southern Appalachia 130
Linda Tate
9 The Southern Literary Renaissance 148
Robert H. Brinkmeyer, Jr.
10 The Native-American South 166
Mick Gidley and Ben Gidley
11 Southern Music 185
John White
12 Country Music 203
Barbara Ching
13 The Civil Rights Debate 221
Richard H. King
14 Southern Religion(s) 238
Charles Reagan Wilson
15 African-American Fiction and Poetry 255
R. J. Ellis
16 Southern Drama 280
Mark Zelinsky and Amy Cuomo
17 Sports in the South 297
Diane Roberts
18 The South Through Other Eyes 317
Helen Taylor
19 The South in Popular Culture 335
Allison Graham
PART III Individuals and Movements 353
20 Edgar Allan Poe 355
Henry Claridge
21 Southwestern Humor 370
John M. Grammer
22 Mark Twain 388
Peter Stoneley
23 Ellen Glasgow 403
Julius Rowan Raper
24 Fugitives and Agrarians 420
Andrew Hook
25 William Faulkner 436
Richard Godden
26 Literature of the African-American Great Migration 454
Kate Fullbrook
27 Zora Neale Hurston 472
Will Brantley
28 Flannery O’Connor 486
Susan Castillo
29 Eudora Welty 502
Jan Nordby Gretlund
30 Oral Culture and Southern Fiction 518
Jill Terry
31 Recent and Contemporary Women Writers in the South 536
Sharon Monteith
32 The South in Contemporary African-American Fiction 552
A. Robert Lee
33 Writing in the South Now 571
Matthew Guinn
PART IV Afterword 589
34 Searching for Southern Identity 591
James C. Cobb
Index 608
