Southern Literature & GA Authors: AN OVERVIEW

1. Southern Literature & GA Authors:AN OVERVIEW

2. What is Southern Literature? • Sometimes called the literature of the American South • American literature about the Southern United States or by writers from this region. • Can also be written by authors who were either brought up in the South, spent many years in the South, or came from southern parents • Authors who were distant enough from slavery and the civil war to write objectively, but still close enough to the long-reaching effects of the war to feel its oppressive, hard-hitting hand.

3. William Faulkner / Mark Twain • William Faulkner - considered the leading figure in Southern Literature • Influenced southern writers more than anyone since Mark Twain.  • Twain is often called the father of American literature • Referred to himself as a southern writer even though Missouri is not the first state we think of when we think of “the South”.

4. Southern Literature States:Geographically, the South can reach as far west as Oklahoma and Texas, and as far north as Kentucky, and Virginia.  Some might argue for the inclusion of parts of Illinois, Tennessee, oreven Maryland.

5. Characteristics of Southern/GA Literature: • The significance of family • A sense of community and one’s role within it • The community’s dominating religion and the burdens/rewards religion often brings • The land and the promise it brings • A sense of social class • The issues of racial tension • The use of southern dialect

6. Additional Characteristics of Southern Literature: • Has a sense of human limitation (moral dilemma) • Values manners/genteel decorum • Involves elaborate celebrations • Speaks with candidness • Inclined to use humor: exaggeration, fish tales, & whoppers • May use profanity • Involves recurring themes & motifs: Mom, trains, the country, pickups, old dogs, & drinking • Is character driven • Shows reluctance to give up anyone or anything once accepted.

7. Southern Literature Today: • So while geography is a factor, southern writing is much more… • Today, Southern literature continues to thrive with authors like Pat Conry, Fannie Flagg, Alice Walker, Tom Wolfe, and Wendell Berry.

8. Southern Literature/GA Author Awards: The 100 Best Books in the History of Literature: • Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison • Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner • The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner • Best-Selling U.S. Hardcover Fiction: • Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1937) • Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1936) • Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary Award for Fiction: A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines (1994)

9. Library Journal's Most Influential Fiction of the 20th Century: • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (#1) • Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (#4) • The Color Purple by Alice Walker (#6) • Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (#28) • The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (#47) • Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (#78) • A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor (#87) • All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren (#94) • A Death in the Family by James Agee (#99) • The Moviegoer by Walker Percy (#136) • The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (#142) • National Book Critics Circle Award: • Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines (1993) • All the Pretty Horses Cormac McCarthy (1992)

10. BOOKS MADE INTO MOVIES: A Time to Kill (1996), based on the novel by John Grisham All the King's Men (2006), based on the novel by Robert Penn Warren Ballad of the Sad Cafe (1991), based on the novel by Carson McCullers Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), based on the novel by Dorothy Allison Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), based on the novel by Truman Capote Cavedweller (2004), based on the novel by Dorothy Allison Color Purple, The (1985), based on the novel by Alice Walker Deliverance (1972), based on the novel by James Dickey Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), based on the novel by Fannie Flagg Gone With the Wind (1939), based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell Interview with the Vampire (1994), based on the novel by Anne Rice Killer Diller (2004), based on the novel by Clyde Edgerton Lords of Discipline (1983), based on the novel by Pat Conroy Pelican Brief (1993), based on the novel by John Grisham Prince of Tides (1991), based on the novel by Pat Conroy Walking Across Egypt (1999), based on the novel by Clyde Edgerton

11. National Book Award: • The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1953) • The Moviegoer by Walker Percy (1962) • The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1983-Hardcover Fiction) • All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (1992)

12. Pulitzer Prize: The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1983)

13. GA Author/Southern Literature Websites: A Southern List: A List of 125 Great Southern Books (http://www.ageefilms.org/southern_books.html)"While creating the award-winning documentary series, TELL ABOUT THE SOUTH: Voices in Black and White, the James Agee Film Project conducted a poll of book editors, publishers, scholars and reviewers, asking which of the thousands of Southern prose works published during the past century should be considered "the most remarkable works of modern Southern Literature."Guide to Southern Writers - ARLS Pathfinder (http://www.clarke.public.lib.ga.us/pathfinders/southernauthors/swriters.html)A collection of resources compiled by the Athens-Clarke County Library on southern writers including quotes, dewey decimal call numbers, book citations and web sites.Reader's Advice: Serious Southern Fiction (http://www.readersadvice.com/readadv/000115.html)Extensive listing of authors and titles.Southern Literary Review (http://www.southernlitreview.com/)Includes author profiles, original content, book reviews, critical essays and more.Southern Scribe (http://www.southernscribe.com/)"...a clearinghouse of information for working writers in the South and for those writing about the southern region. This information includes: resources for writing opportunities; research; and regional book news."

14. GA Author List:

15. Project? – YAY!!!

16. Task: • From the provided list, choose one GA or southern writer to explore. • Use the Web Quest guidelines to find out background information on the author. • Determine which characteristics of southern literature they have in their writing. • Create a project with the following components: • Timeline of significant events (8+) in each author’s life. • The information from the web research. • Project must use color. *The type of technology display you create is up to you. (i.e. Power Point, Prezi, Voice Thread, etc.) *HAVE FUN!