The Run for the Elbertas

by James Still

Overview

In language both spare and colorful, sure in its command of Appalachian dialect and poetic in its evocation of mountain settings, James Still's stories reveal the lives of his people-lives of privation and struggle, lived with honesty as well as humor. With a foreword by Cleanth Brooks and an afterword by the author, The Run for the Elbertas features thirteen stories from one of America's masters of the short story. Enjoyable and enriching, Still's stories sparkle with wisdom and joy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813101514
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	12/31/1980
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

James Still (1906–2001) was the author of numerous works of fiction and poetry, including River of Earth; From the Mountain, From the Valley: New and Collected Poems; and Chinaberry. His writing has won many awards, including the Marjorie Peabody Waite Award and the O. Henry Memorial Prize.

Table of Contents

Foreword

1. I Love My Rooster
2. The Proud Walkers
3. Locust Summer
4. Journey to the Forks
5. On Quicksand Creek
6. The Stir-Off
7. The Burning of the Waters
8. School Butter
9. The Moving
10. One Leg Gone to Judgment
11. The Quare Day
12. The Fun Fox
13. The Run for the Elbertas

Afterword

Editorial Reviews

Still is a great storyteller. He takes you into the hills, acquaints you with their people, shows you their beauty, lets you hear their sounds. These vignettes of life in the southern Appalachians are an important contribution to the literature of the region.

Chattanooga Times

Still is an eavesdropper on the human heart. He doesn't create 'characters' in a story; he is a bright-eyed, keen-eared owl in a thicket, reporting on the human beings he sees and hears.... A marvelous book.

Lexington Herald-Leader

The unprogressive enclaves of Troublesome Creek and Shoal Creek cry out to us what is fundamental about life, and what superfluous.... The marvels here are truly those of art.

Louisville Courier-Journal

James Still offers us the rhythm of the poet's phrasing, the excitement of the word, the expression, that strikes like a little silver hammer, along with an uproarious humor and the lustiness of living of the common man.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

"Still is a great storyteller. He takes you into the hills, acquaints you with their people, shows you their beauty, lets you hear their sounds. These vignettes of life in the southern Appalachians are an important contribution to the literature of the region." — Chattanooga Times

From the Publisher