American Southern Literature

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American Southern Literature
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Southern Literature

• Southern literature announces the conjunction
  of the U.S. South and an expressive arttexts
  identified as belonging to a particular history,
  social organization, and cultural imaginary

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Purpose

• One of the integral aspects of southern culture
  and tradition, is of its colorful literature and
  storytelling. Common themes of southern writers
  include significant familial relationships and
  realistic characters. Writers in the South also
  had a sense of historic background and a unique
  way of life worth writing about.

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Influences in Southern Writing

• Slavery
• Civil War
• Segregation
• Revolution in culture
• Poverty
• Military/ War

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Elements of Southern Writing Style

• Dialect Writing
• Not used often in other writings because it is
  viewed as condescending to the race or ethnicity
  being portrayed.
• Popular in Southern writing and incorporates
  local speech and patterns i.e. aint, yall etc.
  and misspelling of words to display meaning i.e.
  yuh (you) and lak (like)

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Dialect Writing Cont.

• Examples of books with dialect writing
• Tom Sawyer
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Huck Finn
• The Color Purple

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Examples of Dialect Writing

• Excerpts from Their Eyes Were Watching God by
  Zora Neale Hurston
• "At dat she ain't so ole as some of y'all dat's
  talking."
• "She ain't even worth talkin' after," Lulu Moss
  drawled through her nose. "She sits high, but she
  looks low. Dat's what Ah say 'bout dese ole women
  runnin' after young boys."

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Common Themes

• Chivalry
• This theme reflected southern culture where women
  were treated with respect and were delicate
  flowers to be doted upon

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Themes Continued

• Values and Morals
• Many values and morals in Southern literature are
  a result of a strong Christian influence
• Family values are also very prominent. Usually
  this theme is presented from a traditional
  standpoint.

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A Writing Culture

• the South, perhaps more than any other region,
  we go back to our home in dreams and memories,
  hoping it remains what it was on a lazy, still
  summer's day twenty years ago
• - Willie Morris

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Southern Poetry

• Like our folks, poetry here is hillbilly and
  gentry, down-home and intellectual, neighborly
  and reclusive, generous and vengefullike folks
  everywhere, I guessbut with a more colorful
  vernacular and hand-rubbed vowels.              
    Wendy Carlisle
• Southern Poetry was often written by men. Some
  talented southern poets include Edgar Allen Poe,
  Sidney Lanier, James Weldon Johnson, John Crowe
  Ransom and many more.

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Southern Gothic Writing

• Southern gothic, a genre of the American South,
  retreats from the dark castles and clanking
  chains of 19th-century European literature to
  embrace the moody romance, mystery, terror, and
  grotesqueries
• Examples William Faulkners A Rose For Mary,
  and novels by Eudora Welty.

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Great Southern Novels

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
• The Mind of The South by Wilbur Cash

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Great Southern Writers

• There are numerous famous Southern authors. Each
  person had different life experiences, thus they
  wrote and included varying themes in their books.
  Themes vary from reader to reader but prominent
  ones in Southern works include injustice,
  prejudice, standing up for your beliefs and many
  more.

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William Faulkner

• Many say Williams short stories resembled his
  life. They included struggles with rage,
  alcoholism, and adultery. Each of these hardships
  were sadly common in Southern America during the
  1920s through 1950s and even today. His works
  were famous in the South and encouraged many more
  Southern novels.

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Flannery OConnor

• Religion was a key factor in her life and thus
  reflected in her writing. She devout Roman
  Catholic but many of the characters in her books
  were Protestant.
• It was her observation that Protestants
  expressed their faith through dramatic action,
  something she did not see in Catholics

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Impact of Southern Writing on The Literary World

• With the arousal of Southern literature came a
  new more authentic style of writing. They went
  against the grain by using small town issues and
  average joe dialect that made their South
  come to life. Many novels also aided in
  awareness on issues like racism and poverty.
  With the unassuming grace of the great South
  these authors have enlightened us on a culture
  filled with romanticism and family values.