Remapping southern literature : contemporary Southern writers and the West / Robert H. Brinkmeyer, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brinkmeyer, Robert H.

Series:

Mercer University Lamar memorial lectures ; no. 42.

Mercer University Lamar memorial lectures ; no. 42

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American literature--Southern States--History and criticism.

American literature.

American literature--West (U.S.)--History and criticism.

Regionalism in literature.

Southern States--In literature.

Southern States.

Southern States--Intellectual life--1865-.

West (U.S.)--In literature.

West (U.S.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (157 p.)

Edition:

[New] ed.

Place of Publication:

Athens, Ga. ; London : University of Georgia Press, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

One of the most significant and surprising developments in contemporary southern fiction is that an increasing number of southern writers are writing about the American West. In Remapping Southern Literature: Contemporary Southern Writers and the West, Robert H. Brinkmeyer Jr. studies current southern authors of western novels, historical fiction, and contemporary fiction who have been breaking the mold of southern literature by looking westward. Cut loose, in the postmodern age, from the traditional roots in a sense of place, contemporary southern writers have explored an American West shaped by the myths of lawless freedom and disruptive expansion. The rich and diverse fiction of Doris Betts, Barry Hannah, Cormac McCarthy, Madison Smartt Bell, Richard Ford, Rick Bass, Barbara Kingsolver, Chris Offutt, Frederick Barthelme, Dorothy Allison, and Clyde Edgerton, among others, challenges long-standing definitions of southern fiction and regional identity and reconfigures the myths of the West that have long shaped American life. In Remapping Southern Literature, Brinkmeyer proposes that today's southern writers are not by this shift abandoning southern culture but are instead expanding its reach by seeking to balance the ideals of the South and West. This effort points toward a new literary tradition and a new regional and national mythology that blends place and space, settlement and movement, community and individualism, security and freedom.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

List of Abbreviations

Foreword

Preface to the Paperback Edition

Preface to the First Edition

CHAPTER ONE: Embracing Place

CHAPTER TWO: Bleeding Westward

CHAPTER THREE: Regeneration through Community

Epilogue

Notes

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

W.

Notes:

Previous ed.: 2000.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612726217

9781282726215

1282726218

9780820337012

0820337013

OCLC:

680619437