An American vein : critical readings in Appalachian literature / edited by Danny L. Miller, Sharon Hatfield, and Gurney Norman.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Miller, Danny, 1949-

Hatfield, Sharon, 1956-

Norman, Gurney, 1937-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American literature--Appalachian Region--History and criticism.

American literature.

Authors, American--Homes and haunts--Appalachian Region.

Authors, American.

Mountain life in literature.

Intellectual life.

Authors, American--Homes and haunts.

Appalachian Region--Intellectual life.

Appalachian Region.

Appalachian Region--In literature.

Physical Description:

xvii, 400 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Athens : Ohio University Press, [2005]

Summary:

The renaissance in Appalachian Studies began some thirty years ago. Thousands of young people who grew up in the hills have since been made aware of their region's rich literary tradition through high school and college courses. New generations have discovered that their land-scapes, families, and communities have been truthfully portrayed by writers whose backgrounds are similar to their own.

Many writers from the mountains have found success and acclaim outside the region, but awareness of the region itself as a thriving center of literary creativity is not widespread. The editors of An American Vein have remedied this, producing the first general collection of Appalachian literary criticism. This book is a resource for those who teach and read Appalachian literature. What's more, it holds the promise of introducing new readers, nationally and internationally, to Appalachian literature and its relevance to our times.

Contents:

1 New Directions: Folk or Hillbilly? / Cratis D. Williams 1

2 Appalachian Literature at Home in This World / Jim Wayne Miller 13

3 Jesse Stuart and James Still: Mountain Regionalists / Dayton Kohler 25

4 The Changing Poetic Canon: The Case of Jesse Stuart and Ezra Pound / Charles H. Daughaday 35

5 James Still's Poetry: "The Journey a Worldly Wonder" / Jeff Daniel Marion 49

6 On Harriette Arnow's The Dollmaker / Joyce Carol Oates 59

7 The Christian and the Classic in The Dollmaker / Barbara Hill Rigney 66

8 Social Criticism in the Works of Wilma Dykeman / Oliver King Jones III 73

9 Casting a Long Shadow: The Tall Woman / Patricia Gantt 91

10 O Beulah Land: The "Yaller Vision" of Jeremiah Catlett / Jane Gentry Vance 104

11 The Beulah/Canona Connection: Mary Lee Settle's Autobiographies / Nancy Carol Joyner 115

12 The Appalachian Homeplace as Oneiric House in Jim Wayne Miller's The Mountains Have Come Closer / Don Johnson 125

13 The Mechanical Metaphor: Machine and Tool Images in The Mountains Have Come Closer / Ricky Cox 134

14 Kin and Kindness in Gurney Norman's Kinfolks: The Wilgus Stories / Danny L. Miller 140

15 "The Primal Ground of Life": The Integration of Traditional and Countercultural Values in the Work of Gurney Norman / Timothy J. Dunn 158

16 John Ehle and Appalachian Fiction / Leslie Banner 169

17 The Power of Language in Lee Smith's Oral History / Corinne Dale 184

18 A New, Authoritative Voice: Fair and Tender Ladies / Dorothy Combs Hill 197

19 "Where's Love?": The Overheard Quest in the Stories of Jo Carson / Robert J. Higgs 217

20 Family Journeys in Jo Carson's Daytrips / Anita J. Turpin 231

21 Points of Kinship: Community and Allusion in Fred Chappell's Midquest / John Lang 239

22 Fred Chappell's Urn of Memory: I Am One of You Forever / Hilbert Campbell 252

23 Coming Out from Under Calvinism: Religious Motifs in Robert Morgan's Poetry / John Lang 261

24 Robert Morgan's Mountain Voice and Lucid Prose / Cecelia Conway 275

25 Class and Identity in Denise Giardina's Storming Heaven / Terry Easton 296

26 Cormac McCarthy: Restless Seekers / John G. Cawelti 306

27 Claiming a Literary Space: The Affrilachian Poets / Theresa L. Burriss 315

28 Nature-Loving Souls and Appalachian Mountains: The Promise of Feminist Ecocriticism / Elizabeth Engelhardt 337

29 The Wolves of AEgypt: John Crowley's Appalachians / Rodger Cunningham 353.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0821415891

0821415905

OCLC:

56733095