Contemporary Fiction Writers of the South: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook

by Joseph M. Flora (Editor), Robert Bain (Editor)

Overview

The extraordinary flowering of Southern literary talent in the early twentieth century, the Southern Literary Renascence, has continued virtually unabated, showing increasing vitality in recent decades. These newer fiction writers, poets, dramatists, and jourbanalists reflect in their work the changing social conditions of the South while also presenting traditional Southern values and qualities. Their astonishing output constitutes a phenomenon worthy of being called a Second Southern Literary Renascence. Joseph M. Flora and Robert Bain, editors of the acclaimed Fifty Southern Writers before 1900 and Fifty Southern Writers after 1900, found that they could only begin to suggest the continuing abundance and significance of Southern writing in the latter volume. Retaining the same format, they have developed two new volumes for the contemporary period. The first, focusing on fiction, comprises forty-nine talented novelists, including such popular figures as Pat Conroy, Gail Godwin, T. R. Pearson, Anne Tyler, and Alice Walker. The companion volume, (Contemporary Poets, Dramatists, Essayists, and Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook forthcoming from Greenwood Press) will cover primarily poets, playwrights, and essayists as well as fiction writers who have made major contributions to these other genres.

The essays, written by scholars and critics, present in each case a biographical sketch, an analysis of the writer's style and major themes, an assessment of reviews and scholarship, a chronological list of works, and a bibliography of selected criticism. Considered individually and comparatively and with attention to the editors' introductory essay, these bio-bibliographical studies clearly demonstrate the state and strength of Southern letters.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313287640
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/23/1993
Pages:	592
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 1.25(d)

About the Author

JOSEPH M. FLORA is Professor of English at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the author of literary studies of Vardis Fisher, William Ernest Henley, Frederick Manfred, and Ernest Hemingway and editor of The English Short Story, 1880-1945 (1985). With Robert Bain, he coedited Southern Writers: A Biographical Dictionary (1979) and Fifty Southern Writers before 1900 and Fifty Southern Writers after 1900 (both Greenwood Press, 1987).

ROBERT BAIN is Professor of English and Bowman and Gordon Gray Professor of Undergraduate Teaching (1987-90) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His books include two works on H. L. Davis, also The Writer and the Worlds of Words (1975), and The Cast of Consciousness (1987), with Beverly Taylor. With Joseph M. Flora, he was coeditor of the three reference books on Southern writers mentioned above.

Table of Contents

Alice Adams (1926-)
Lisa Alther (1944-)
Toni Cade Bambara (1939-)
Madison Smartt Bell (1957-)
Larry Brown (1951-)
Rita Mae Brown (1944-)
Pat Conroy (1945-)
John William Corrington (1932-1988)
Ellen Douglas (1921-)
Andre Dubus (1936-)
Clyde Edgerton (1944-)
John (Marsden) Ehle, Jr. (1925-)
Jesse Hill Ford (1928-)
Richard Ford (1944-)
Kaye Gibbons (1960-)
Ellen Gilchrist (1935-)
Marianne Gingher (1947-)
Gail Godwin (1937-)
Alex (Murray Palmer) Haley (1921-1992)
Barry Hannah (1942-)
(Henry) William Hoffman (1925-)
William Humphrey (1924-)
Josephine Humphreys (1945-)
Gayl Jones (1949-)
Madison (Percy) Jones (1925-)
Beverly Lowry (1938-)
Bobbie Ann Mason (1940-)
Cormac McCarthy (1933-)
Jill McCorkle (1958-)
Tim McLaurin (1953-)
James Alan McPherson (1943-)
Berry Morgan (1919-)
Helen Norris (1916-)
T.R. Pearson (1956-)
Jayne Anne Phillips (1952-)
Charles (McColl) Portis (1933-)
Padgett Powell (1952-)
Ferrol Sams (1922-)
Mary Lee Settle (1918-)
Bob Shacochis (1951-)
Susan Richards Shreve (1939-)
Lee Smith (1944-)
John Kennedy Toole (1937-1969)
Anne Tyler (1941-)
Alice Walker (1944-)
James Wilcox (1949-)
Sylvia Wilkinson (1940-)
Calder (Baynard) Willingham, Jr. (1922-)
John Yount (1935-)
Index compiled by Judity K. Logan

Editorial Reviews

Focusing on the current generation of southern writers, this volume continues the series Bain and Flora began with their "Fifty Southern Writers after 1900" (1987) and "Fifty Southern Writers before 1900" (1987). Among the 49 authors treated are Pat Conroy, Clyde Edgerton, Gale Godwin, Cormac McCarthy, Lee Smith, and Alice Walker. With the exception of John William Corrington, Alex Haley, and John Kennedy Toole, the work is devoted to living authors. In most cases, the editors selected writers who have published at least four books, whose works have been widely reviewed, and who have received critical recognition beyond the regional level. The only author from "Fifty Southern Writers after 1900" to also appear in this volume is Anne Tyler; the essay on her has been substantially revised and updated While some critics and sociologists have argued that regional distinctions in American writing are no longer valid in today's increasingly homogenized society, the editors make a strong case that these writers reflect a uniquely southern point-of-view, even though some of them no longer live in the South or write about it. In their 10-page introductory essay, Flora and Bain provide an illuminating overview of major developments in southern fiction during the past three decades. They maintain that instead of one South, there are actually eight distinctive geographic regions, each producing its own literary voice Contributed by scholars affiliated with American academic institutions, the essays are arranged alphabetically by the writers treated. Ranging from nine to sixteen pages in length, the articles follow a standard format, with separate sections devoted to biographical information, discussion of major themes, and a synthesis of critical assessment. Following each essay is a chronological list of the author's writings and a selective bibliography of secondary sources. Bibliographies are current through 1992 An appendix updates the selective primary and secondary bibliographies for nine of the authors treated in "Fifty Southern Writers after 1900". Also appended is a list of individuals to be included in a forthcoming companion volume covering contemporary southern poets, dramatists, and essayists. That volume will also treat a number of fiction writers omitted from this work who have made distinctive contributions to those genres. The excellent index not only provides detailed entries for the authors treated but also includes references to other individuals, institutions, publications, and subjects referred to in the essays. In addition, it provides access to discussions of recurrent themes (i.e., community, family, religion) in the writings of these authors All but six of the writers featured in this work are also covered in "Contemporary Authors", and 24 are included in the "Dictionary of Literary Biography" or its yearbooks. However, the strengths of this compendium lie in its well-written and uniformly up-to-date essays and its composite picture of literary activity in the contemporary South. It will be a valuable resource for all libraries that support an interest in modern southern literature.

Zom Zoms

Retaining the same format as in the editors' Fifty Southern Writers Before 1900 and Fifty Southern Writers After 1900 (both Greenwood Press, 1987), this new volume on contemporary Southern fiction writers comprises 49 novelists, including such popular figures as Pat Conroy, Gail Godwin, T.R. Pearson, Anne Tyler, and Alice Walker. The essays, written by scholars and critics, present in each case a biographical sketch, an analysis of style and themes, an assessment of reviews and scholarship, a chronological list of works, and a bibliography of selected criticism. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews