How History Changes Southern History & Southern Literature
How History Changes – Southern History & Southern Literature
The events that take place in our past create a lasting effect that can be seen in almost every aspect of our lives. When reviewing how these historical events cause great changes, it is best to look at the literature from the time period. Literature is important to its time frame because it represents how and what the people living in that era felt. The literature of the Southern States of America, “Southern Literature”, has gone through two important events in history, The Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement, which have lead to great advancements in the further development of the type of literature. Along with these historical occurrences there were plenty of new authors and writers, but Mark Twain, William Faulkner, and Flannery O’Connor where three authors that individually shaped their periods of Southern Literature. To understand how history shaped Southern Literature into what it was then and what it is now, a reader has to know that Southern Literature is basically literature written by Southern writers about the issues and lifestyles of the South. The characteristics of Southern Literature include; common southern history, the importance of family, the importance of community, religion, race, land and the promise it brings, sense of social class, and the use of Southern dialect. Most of these characteristics are found in works of Southern Literature, but they do not limit them. Southern/American Literature has been present since the Americas were inhibited by the first expeditions to Virginia. Most of the literature around that time was the same in the North and the South. It wasn’t until 1840 when the increasing divergence of economic, political, and social conditions started to create a specific “Southern Literature” that reflected the concerns and attitudes that would survive as continuing elements of Southern Literature. Most of these works reflected the lifestyle, too, of
The events that take place in our past create a lasting effect that can be seen in almost every aspect of our lives. When reviewing how these historical events cause great changes, it is best to look at the literature from the time period. Literature is important to its time frame because it represents how and what the people living in that era felt. The literature of the Southern States of America, “Southern Literature”, has gone through two important events in history, The Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement, which have lead to great advancements in the further development of the type of literature. Along with these historical occurrences there were plenty of new authors and writers, but Mark Twain, William Faulkner, and Flannery O’Connor where three authors that individually shaped their periods of Southern Literature. To understand how history shaped Southern Literature into what it was then and what it is now, a reader has to know that Southern Literature is basically literature written by Southern writers about the issues and lifestyles of the South. The characteristics of Southern Literature include; common southern history, the importance of family, the importance of community, religion, race, land and the promise it brings, sense of social class, and the use of Southern dialect. Most of these characteristics are found in works of Southern Literature, but they do not limit them. Southern/American Literature has been present since the Americas were inhibited by the first expeditions to Virginia. Most of the literature around that time was the same in the North and the South. It wasn’t until 1840 when the increasing divergence of economic, political, and social conditions started to create a specific “Southern Literature” that reflected the concerns and attitudes that would survive as continuing elements of Southern Literature. Most of these works reflected the lifestyle, too, of
Cited: Castille, Phillip, and William Osborne. Southern Literature in Transition: Heritage and Promise. Memphis: Memphis State University Press, 1983. Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily”. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Comp. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2005. Pg. 90-97. Flora, Joseph M., and Lucinda H. Mackethan. The Companion to Southern Literature: Themes, Genres, Places, People, Movements, and Motifs. Baton Rouge: Lousiana State University, 2002. Humphries, Jefferson. Southern Literature and Literary Theory. Athens, GA: University of Georgia, 1990. O’Conner, Flannery. “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Comp. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2005. Pg. 430-440. Rubin Jr., Louis D. The History of Southern Literature. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1985. Smith, Lee. “On Southern Change and Permanence”. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Comp. Micheal Meyer. Boston:Bedford/St. Martins, 2005. “Southern Literature”. 26 Feb 2007. Wikipedia. 13 May 2007. http://ed.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Literature. Twain, Mark. “The Story of the Good Little Boy”. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Comp. Micheal Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2005.