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Southern literature is
defined as literature about the South, written by
authors who were either brought up in the South,
spent many years in the
South, or came from southern parents. But
exactly where does the "South" begin and end?
Geographically, the South can reach as far west as
Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, and as far North as
Kentucky, and Virginia.
Mark Twain,
arguably the Father of Southern Literature defined the characteristics
that we associate with southern writing today. He even referred to
himself as a southern writer, yet Missouri is not the first state we think
of when we think of "the South." For Missouri, southern culture
mostly exists in the Ozark Mountain region, which lies in the southern
part of the state. And, of course, Twain grew up in Hannibal, a
river town in central Missouri. Truman Capote born
and raised in the deep south, is best known for his novel
In Cold
Blood, a brilliantly written piece with absolutely none of the
characteristics associated with "southern writing," and
then there are writers like
Katherine Anne Porter of Texas
who blends
both southern and western storytelling styles.
Interestingly, many writers from the south
headed north as soon as they were old enough to break out on their own. So while
geography is a factor, southern writing is much more.
Characteristics of southern literature are: the
significance of family, a sense of community and
one’s role within it, the community's dominating religion and
the burden religion often brings, land
and the promise it brings, and the use of southern
dialect. History is held in
high regard in the South, and so, the historical
significance of the southern town in their stories
is usually discussed at length.
When most people think of Southern Literature,
they think of those authors who were distant enough
from slavery and the civil war to write objectively,
but still close enough to the long-reaching effects
of the war to feel its oppressive, hard-hitting
hand. This is referred to as the Southern
Renaissance. It was during the Southern Renaissance
that William Faulkner introduced us to his complex
narrative techniques as in
As I Lay Dying and
Katherine Anne Porter used religious symbolism in
her collection of short stories. And it
was during this time that
Robert Penn Warren wrote
his highly-acclaimed novel
All the King’s Men.
Today, Southern literature continues to thrive
with authors like
Pat Conroy,
Fannie Flagg,
Alice
Walker,
Tom Wolfe,
Wendell Berry,
and Edward P.
Jones
Tell about the South.
What's it
like there?
What do they do there?
Why do they live there?
Why do they live at all?"
~William
Faulkner,
Absalom, Absalom! |
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