Category: southern literature

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+ creative writing, short story, south, southern, southern gothic, southern literature, writing, zombies

“I’ve always done what is right”

by Unknown's avatar

If you’ve been reading me for a while, you know that while I typically write essays, I occasionally write short stories. I’ve published “Paper,” “Adieu,” and “This Story is Continuing to Develop” here over the past few years. Today, I want to share another story that I wrote back in 2020. I’m not, really, a huge horror fan, but someone asked me to write … Read More “I’ve always done what is right”

+ african american literature, american literature, ernest j gaines, gothic literature, louisiana literature, of love and dust, southern literature

The Most Important Twentieth-Century American Novel

by Unknown's avatar

Whenever I look I look at a list of the most important twentieth century American novels and novelists, the same names pop up again and again: William Faulkner, Harper Lee, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edith Wharton, Toni Morrison, Ralph Ellison. While each of these authors and their works are important, for various reasons, I do not see any of them as penning the quintessential twentieth … Read More The Most Important Twentieth-Century American Novel

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+ lillian e smith, race, southern literature, strange fruit, white supremacy

Community Complicity in White Supremacy in Lillian Smith’s “Strange Fruit”

by Unknown's avatar

Lillian Smith’s Strange Fruit ends with the lynching of Henry McIntosh and the community members’ reactions to the murder. Following Ed Anderson murder of Tracy Deen, the townspeople, specifically the poor white mill hands, seek vengeance and they accuse Henry of murdering Tracy because Henry moved Tracy’s body off of the road into the palmetto bushes. The fact that Henry is innocent doesn’t matter. The mob, … Read More Community Complicity in White Supremacy in Lillian Smith’s “Strange Fruit”

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+ african american literature, all the sinners bleed, american literature, ernest j gaines, Literature, s.a. cosby, southern literature, the autobiography of miss jane pittman

Literary Influences in S.A. Cosby’s “All the Sinners Bleed”

by Unknown's avatar

Recently, I wrote about some of the ways that S.A. Cosby addresses religion and faith in his recent novel All the Sinners Bleed. Today, I want to look at another aspect of his novel that stood out to me, namely the ways that he examines the roots of enslavement and racism buried deep within the soil of Charon, the South, and the nation. He does this … Read More Literary Influences in S.A. Cosby’s “All the Sinners Bleed”

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+ african american literature, ernest j gaines, louisiana, of love and dust, southern literature

The Structure of Oppression in Ernest Gaines’ “Of Love and Dust”

by Unknown's avatar

When teaching Ernest Gaines’ Of Love and Dust (1967) this semester, I asked students to think about the hierarchy within the novel. When constructing the hierarchy, students constructed in a horizontal manner, with Marshall Hebert at the top, Sidney Bonbon on the rung beneath him, Louise beneath Bonbon, Pauline beneath Louise, then the Black residents of the plantation on the bottom rung. On the … Read More The Structure of Oppression in Ernest Gaines’ “Of Love and Dust”

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