Displaying 1 of 1 1994 Format: Book Author: Simpson, Lewis P. Title: The fable of the Southern writer / Lewis P. Simpson. Publisher, Date: Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, [1994] ©1994 Description: xviii, 249 pages ; 24 cm Subjects: American literature -- Southern States -- History and criticism. American literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism. Authorship -- Social aspects -- Southern States. Southern States -- In literature. Southern States -- Intellectual life. Notes: Includes index. 520790 LCCN: 93008699 ISBN: 0807118710 (alk. paper) Other Number: 28255517 System Availability: 1 # System items in: 1 # Local items: 1 # Local items in: 1 Current Holds: 0 Place Request Add to My List Expand All | Collapse All Availability Large Cover Image Trade Reviews Library Journal ReviewWith a breadth and depth unsurpassed by any other cultural historian of the South, Simpson (English emeritus, Louisiana State Univ.) examines the writing of Southerners Thomas Jefferson, John Randolph, Mark Twain, Robert Penn Warren, Allen Tate, William Faulkner, Elizabeth Madox Roberts, Arthur Crew Inman, William Styron, and Walker Percy. Simpson offers challenging essays of easy erudition blessedly free of academic jargon. Written within the last decade, these 11 essays--including a culminating personal essay--do not propose to support an overall thesis but simply explore the Southern writer's unique relationship with his or her region, bereft of myth and tradition, in the grasp of science and history. Recommended for all academic American literature collections and large public libraries in the South.-- Charles C. Nash, Cottey Coll., Nevada, Mo. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.CHOICE ReviewBased on an overview of previous writing, this book brings a new vision to the southernness of Jefferson, Tate, Faulkner, Robert Penn Warren, and Walker Percy. This collection of essays written over the past decade may prove to be the masterpiece of Lewis Simpson's literary career and could serve as the capstone of the Southern Renascence. Those who know Simpson know that he transcends all clich'es regarding the subject of the South, southern writing, and the relevance of the Civil War. He is tenacious of the premise that regardless of social and economic changes, including the grim specter of industrial "progress," the Civil War is still here. In his "Prologue" Simpson notes that the literary criticism of the mid-century--characterized by men like Ransom, Tate, Brooks, and Warren--has been superseded by the "carnival" of critics who specialize in esoteric niceties that have little bearing on literature or its analysis. Suitable for undergraduate and graduate students in history and literature, this book is a fine addition to public as well as academic libraries and a boon to collectors of southern writing. A. G. Tassin; University of New Orleans Summary Simpson was editor of the Southern Review from 1965 through 1987, and he has contributed in many other ways as well during four decades of literary scholarship. The ten essays presented here encompass a wide range of writers and address issues at the deepest level of southern literary history. Among the essays: History and the Will of the Artist--Elizabeth Madox Roberts; The Loneliness Artist--Robert Penn Warren; A Fable of White and Black--Jefferson, Madison, Tate; and From Thoreau to Walker Percy. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR Librarian's View Syndetics Unbound Displaying 1 of 1
