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Appalachian Literature

Appalachian Literature. Myths About Appalachian Literature. Only minor writers are Appalachian Regional writing is merely “local color” Any masterful writer becomes “southern” or “American”. Observations.

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Appalachian Literature

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  1. Appalachian Literature

  2. Myths About Appalachian Literature • Only minor writers are Appalachian • Regional writing is merely “local color” • Any masterful writer becomes “southern” or “American”

  3. Observations • Distinguished from southern literature, which is more Gothic and concerned with North-South conflicts • Deals with universal truths as revealed through lives of specific individuals in localized settings • Strong sense of place as influence upon values and motivations of characters • Willingness to incorporate local and regional beliefs and values • Fine line of regional stereotypes - how to include honest representations of the region without becoming another stereotypical text.

  4. Fiction • Short stories and novels appear after Civil War and the discovered "oddity" of Appalachia • Local colorists include similar characters: the moonshiner; the feudist; beautiful, unappreciated mountain girl; tired wife and mother; aged grandmother; barefoot urchin; the "idiot" • Mary Noailles Murfree credited with catapulting mountaineers into American consciousness withIn the Tennessee Mountains • John Fox, Jr. (Trail of the Lonesome Pine, The Little Shepherd of kingdom Come) also contributes • Both negative and romantic in their approach

  5. Fiction (1st Quarter of 20th Century) • First quarter of 20th Century, national interest in social betterment and need to reform the mountains • There is a move to very negative, one-sided representations of Appalachia • Incest, illegitimacy, drunkenness, abusiveness of women and children, violence often included

  6. Fiction 2nd Quarter of 20th Century • Appalachians begin writing novels about themselves • Why the wait? Lack of educational opportunities and lack of leisure time • Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel: set in urban Asheville as opposed to backwoods predecessors • 1930s and 1940s: Jesse Stuart (Taps for Private Tussie welfare system), James Still (River of Earth, family hardships during Depression), Hariette Simpson Arnow (The Dollmaker, outmigration): greater sense of authenticity and balanced sense of realism due to personal background

  7. Fiction (Last Half of 20th Century) • Wilma Dykeman:The Tall Woman (dignity, strength, and virtues of Appalachia) • Gurney Norman: Kinfolks, Divine Right's Trip (novel of counter-culture) • Mary Lee Settle, John Ehle, Fred Chappell, Jim Wayne Miller, David Huddle, Charles Frazier, Robert Morgan, Chris Holbrook, George Ella Lyon, Meredith Sue Willis, Elaine Fowler Palencia, Ron Rash, Silas House • Not all were positive: James Dickey's Deliverance (remember the film of the same name?)has a major impact as well as others

  8. Fiction: Appalachia's Popular Writers • Lee Smith: Black Mountain Breakdown, Oral History, Family Linen, Fair and Tender Ladies • Denise Giardina: Storming Heaven, The Unquiet Earth • Sharyn McCrumb's "Ballad Series": She Walks These Hills, The Rosewood Casket, The Ballad of Frankie Silver, The Songcatcher, Ghost Riders

  9. Fiction: Coal Mining • Trail of the Lonesome Pine (John Fox, Jr) • River of Earth (James Still) • Daughter of the Hills: A Woman's Part in the Coal Miners' Struggle (Myra Page) • Barefoot Man (Davis Grubb) • Vein of Riches (John Knowles) • Scapegoat (Mary Lee Settle)

  10. Fiction: Extra Reading • An American Vein: Critical Readings in Appalachian Literature (Danny L. Miller, Sharon Hatfield, Gurney Norman) • Listen Here: Women Writing in Appalachia (Sandra L. Ballard and Patricia L. Hudson)

  11. Poetry • Native Appalachian poetry burgeons in 1960s and 1970s, but it isn't the beginning • Jesse Stuart, Don West, Byron Herbert Reece, James Still, Louise McNeill (early writers) • Jim Wayne Miller, Jeff Daniel Marion, Robert Morgan, George Ella Lyon, Jo Carson, Marilou Awiakta (writers and lecturers) • Affrilachian Writers: Frank X. Walker (If you think makin’ shine from corn/is hard as Kentucky coal/Imagine being an Affrilachian poet), Nikky Finney, Crystal Wilkinson, Effie Waller Smith, Nikki Giovanni

  12. Poetry (continued) • Anthologies: • Old Wounds, New Words (George Ella Lyon, Bob Henry Baber, Gurney Norman) • Her Words: Diverse Voices in Contemporary Appalachian Women's Poetry (Felicia Mitchell) • Looking for New Ground: Contemporary Appalachian Poetry (Rita Quillen)

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