A Breach in the Wall
A Review of: Look Homeward by David Herbert Donald, Little, Brown, 1987. When David Herbert Donald recalls his youthful reaction to Look Homeward, Angel, he describes a magic that many of us felt upon encountering… »
Understanding Andrew Lytle
A Review of The Southern Vision of Andrew Lytle, by Mark Lucas, Louisiana State University Press, 1987. Andrew Lytle’s writings comprise a rich and diverse tapestry whose outlines are difficult to bring together. The critic… »
Music from the Lake
A review of Music from the Lake and Other Essays by Catharine Savage Brosman (Chronicles Press, 2017). Catharine Savage Brosman is a treasure of Southern literature. Although much of her work shows her solid Colorado… »
Bledsoe on St. Elmo
Editor’s note: This was originally published in Bledsoe’s Southern Review in 1867 and is presented here in honor of Augusta J. Evans’s birthday, May 8. St. Elmo. A Novel. By Augusta J. Evans. Carleton, New… »
Understanding Faulkner
A Review of: On the Prejudices, Predilections, and Firm Beliefs of William Faulkner. By Cleanth Brooks. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1987. 162 pp. When I think of the state of literary criticism… »
Wendell Berry: More Than a Southern Thoreau
It was pure brag on young Henry Thoreau’s part to say that he had gone to Walden Pond in order “to front only the essential facts of life,” to take a Spartanlike stance against its… »
Why Flannery O’Connor Never Liked Yankees
YANKEE, n. In Europe, an American. In the Northern States of our Union, a New Englander. In Southern States the word is unknown. (seeDAMYANK.) Ambrose Bierce, THE DEVIL’S DICTIONARY (1906). Bierce’s definition of the Yankee… »
Manly Wade Wellman: The Voice of the Mountains
Manly Wade Wellman never penned an autobiography, despite the fact he published 500 stories and articles, won the World Fantasy Award and Edgar Allan Poe Award, and even edged out William Faulkner to win the… »
God, Gallup, and the Episcopalians
The rejection of the old Prayer Book was something like the demolition of a historic building. For over four centuries it has been regarded as a monument of great prose. It has influenced the English… »
