Novels set in the South
October 14, 2014 8:56 AM Subscribe
I’m about to head to Clarksdale, MS on holiday for a few days and am looking for recommendations for novels to read that are set in, and evocative of, a similar geographical area.
A broad geographical area. For example Suttree by Cormac McCarthy is set in Tennessee but that would have done the job quite nicely had I not already read it. Gone With the Wind is in the maybe pile. I'm heading to a blues festival down there and am not necessarily keen to brush up on my blues history as there will be enough of that going on upon arrival. I'm more looking for good general fiction, perhaps of a fairly literary bent.
A broad geographical area. For example Suttree by Cormac McCarthy is set in Tennessee but that would have done the job quite nicely had I not already read it. Gone With the Wind is in the maybe pile. I'm heading to a blues festival down there and am not necessarily keen to brush up on my blues history as there will be enough of that going on upon arrival. I'm more looking for good general fiction, perhaps of a fairly literary bent.
Since you mention Cormac McCarthy, you could pick up any old book from James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux series. They're set in rural and urban Louisiana and for being best selling mysteries they are more literary than they have any right to be. Moving further, he has a book called Feast Day of Fools that is even more challenging and evocative of McCarthy, but that's set on the Texas border.
If you happen to audiobook, several of the Robicheaux audiobooks are read by Will Patton (audiobookography at bottom) and listening to this will absolutely immerse you in the South.
posted by ftm at 9:07 AM on October 14, 2014 [2 favorites]
If you happen to audiobook, several of the Robicheaux audiobooks are read by Will Patton (audiobookography at bottom) and listening to this will absolutely immerse you in the South.
posted by ftm at 9:07 AM on October 14, 2014 [2 favorites]
Anything by Eudora Welty.
posted by tafetta, darling! at 9:09 AM on October 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by tafetta, darling! at 9:09 AM on October 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
To Kill a Mockingbird, if you have somehow not read it yet...
I always recommend The Confederates in the Attic, in which a northern journalist visits various Civil War/Civil Rights sights and talks to a lot of interesting people (including Civil War reenactors).
Donna Tart just won the Pulitzer for The Goldfinch; her older novel, The Little Friend, is set in the south.
posted by chaiminda at 9:09 AM on October 14, 2014
I always recommend The Confederates in the Attic, in which a northern journalist visits various Civil War/Civil Rights sights and talks to a lot of interesting people (including Civil War reenactors).
Donna Tart just won the Pulitzer for The Goldfinch; her older novel, The Little Friend, is set in the south.
posted by chaiminda at 9:09 AM on October 14, 2014
So many. My top suggestions would be the amazing A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor. Flannery O'Connor for fun for a little gothic nuttiness--Wise Blood, perhaps, or a collection of short stories like Everything That Rises Must Converge. And finally, A Confederacy of Dunces for a laugh.
posted by feste at 9:20 AM on October 14, 2014
posted by feste at 9:20 AM on October 14, 2014
I love the movie, "The Long Hot Summer," Clara has some really great things to say about herself.
The movie based upon Faulkner stories, so read some Faulkner. And the 1958 version of the movie, with a steaming Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman is available on Netflix.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 9:21 AM on October 14, 2014
The movie based upon Faulkner stories, so read some Faulkner. And the 1958 version of the movie, with a steaming Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman is available on Netflix.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 9:21 AM on October 14, 2014
Is Birmingham, Alabama close enough? If so I recommend Caitlin Kiernan's work set there and in surrounding terrain.
Silk has lovely writing, if you don't mind reading about twitchy goths and their relationships with (a) coffee, (b) nebulous spidery monsters. Other features include seedy local subcultural establishments; various forms of sexual romance, all of them troubled and mostly queer; an old house once inhabited by Bible-thumping kinfolk; and partially-medicated psychosis, the latter two closely tied to (but not really explaining) the nebulous spidery monsters.
Threshold is also good, although I must admit I never finished reading it -- decent writing, but at points the plot slows to a geological rate of unfolding -- its nebulous monsters are connected to fossils, so there's that kind of connection to place too. It draws on Kiernan's small town childhood hobby and then day job, paleontology.
posted by feral_goldfish at 9:27 AM on October 14, 2014
Silk has lovely writing, if you don't mind reading about twitchy goths and their relationships with (a) coffee, (b) nebulous spidery monsters. Other features include seedy local subcultural establishments; various forms of sexual romance, all of them troubled and mostly queer; an old house once inhabited by Bible-thumping kinfolk; and partially-medicated psychosis, the latter two closely tied to (but not really explaining) the nebulous spidery monsters.
Threshold is also good, although I must admit I never finished reading it -- decent writing, but at points the plot slows to a geological rate of unfolding -- its nebulous monsters are connected to fossils, so there's that kind of connection to place too. It draws on Kiernan's small town childhood hobby and then day job, paleontology.
posted by feral_goldfish at 9:27 AM on October 14, 2014
...and also Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men is both appropriate and an excellent piece of literary work.
posted by drlith at 9:28 AM on October 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by drlith at 9:28 AM on October 14, 2014 [3 favorites]
You should really be looking for novels set in the Mississippi Delta, since "The South" is probably too wide and not necessarily going to produce any results that are in any way evocative of Clarksdale, MS. The entire South isn't one giant Gone With The Wind stage set.
Nthing Faulkner.
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings actually takes place in Arkansas, but the overall vibe is very similar to the culture of the Delta.
I love Flannery O'Connor, but to me her stories are really not evocative of the Mississippi Delta at all. Likewise, Confederacy Of Dunces, while it's one of my favorite books, takes place entirely in New Orleans and has as much to do with Clarksdale, Mississippi, as Chaucer does.
I don't have specific recommendations, but you should really be looking at novels about African-American culture or with African-American protagonists.
A quick google of 'Mississippi Delta novel' brings up Southern Cross The Dog.
posted by Sara C. at 9:37 AM on October 14, 2014
Nthing Faulkner.
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings actually takes place in Arkansas, but the overall vibe is very similar to the culture of the Delta.
I love Flannery O'Connor, but to me her stories are really not evocative of the Mississippi Delta at all. Likewise, Confederacy Of Dunces, while it's one of my favorite books, takes place entirely in New Orleans and has as much to do with Clarksdale, Mississippi, as Chaucer does.
I don't have specific recommendations, but you should really be looking at novels about African-American culture or with African-American protagonists.
A quick google of 'Mississippi Delta novel' brings up Southern Cross The Dog.
posted by Sara C. at 9:37 AM on October 14, 2014
Granted that Mississippi is not Louisiana (though it's right next door!), but my two favorite southern novels are Walker Percy's The Moviegoer and John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. The former is perhaps better at capturing a gentile southern atmosphere; the latter aims for New Orleans crazy.
posted by ubiquity at 9:39 AM on October 14, 2014
posted by ubiquity at 9:39 AM on October 14, 2014
Adding:
Georgia:
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe and Other Stories
The Color Purple
Florida:
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Missouri:
At the risk of sounding too obvious, Mark Twain (Tom Swayer / Huck Finn).
posted by wintrymix at 9:42 AM on October 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
Georgia:
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe and Other Stories
The Color Purple
Florida:
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Missouri:
At the risk of sounding too obvious, Mark Twain (Tom Swayer / Huck Finn).
posted by wintrymix at 9:42 AM on October 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
Two very good recent novels by African American authors set in Mississippi:
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Long Division by Kiese Laymon
posted by radiomayonnaise at 9:52 AM on October 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Long Division by Kiese Laymon
posted by radiomayonnaise at 9:52 AM on October 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
I agree with others that Mississippi has little in common with Georgia (Gone with the Wind ::shudder::) or New Orleans or Missouri (Twain). If you want classic and evocative of the place, Faulkner is what you want.
If you want more modern, Nevada Barr has several murder mysteries set on Natchez Trace, a National Parks Service parkway which isn't too far from Clarksdale. Deep South is the first one.
posted by hydropsyche at 9:56 AM on October 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
If you want more modern, Nevada Barr has several murder mysteries set on Natchez Trace, a National Parks Service parkway which isn't too far from Clarksdale. Deep South is the first one.
posted by hydropsyche at 9:56 AM on October 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
T. R. Pearson's series of novels, beginning with A Short History of a Small Place are wonderful, hilarious and have just the right amount of crazy.
posted by John Kennedy Toole Box at 11:18 AM on October 14, 2014
posted by John Kennedy Toole Box at 11:18 AM on October 14, 2014
Truman Capote's first published novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, is creepy and terrific.
posted by neroli at 11:56 AM on October 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by neroli at 11:56 AM on October 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
Tom Franklin is a great start. "Poachers", "Hell at the Breech" are great.
Barry Hannah's "Ray" is a great short read.
My favorite by far is anything by Larry Brown. "Fay", "Joe", "The Rabbit Factory", "Big Bad Love".
Nothing will give you a better picture of Mississippi than Larry Brown's writing.
posted by GreatValhalla at 11:58 AM on October 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
Barry Hannah's "Ray" is a great short read.
My favorite by far is anything by Larry Brown. "Fay", "Joe", "The Rabbit Factory", "Big Bad Love".
Nothing will give you a better picture of Mississippi than Larry Brown's writing.
posted by GreatValhalla at 11:58 AM on October 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
Yes, Faulkner.
posted by fivesavagepalms at 12:29 PM on October 14, 2014
posted by fivesavagepalms at 12:29 PM on October 14, 2014
Yonder Stands Your Orphan by Barry Hannah is my favorite crazy southern novel (set in MS!)
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:06 PM on October 14, 2014
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:06 PM on October 14, 2014
Okay, I know that it sounds from your question and the answers you're getting that you may be looking for some blues-y, gothic, steamy thing. So feel free to ignore. But my all time favorite Mississsippi novel will always be Fannie Flagg's hysterical Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man
posted by Mchelly at 1:46 PM on October 14, 2014
posted by Mchelly at 1:46 PM on October 14, 2014
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy. Set in New Orleans. A brooding, lovely book and a Southern classic.
posted by jilloftrades at 3:45 PM on October 14, 2014
posted by jilloftrades at 3:45 PM on October 14, 2014
My suggestion may be a memoir but it's set in a Delta more recent than Faulkner's. Faulkner can be hard to appreciate for some but I am a huge fan. Plus, he did receive a Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer, the National Book Award, and created the PEN/Faulkner award. That said, please consider From the Mississippi Delta by Endesha Ida Mae Holland. Her story is like no other, yet like so many that are untold. Her obit from the NYT.
posted by Lil Bit of Pepper at 4:27 PM on October 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Lil Bit of Pepper at 4:27 PM on October 14, 2014 [1 favorite]
One of my all-time favorites is Eudora Welty's Delta Wedding. If you want to try something by Welty, pick that one.
posted by Redstart at 6:53 PM on October 14, 2014
posted by Redstart at 6:53 PM on October 14, 2014
Southern Cross the Dog got rave reviews for its authenticity, despite the fact that the author had never been to Mississippi, and is specific to the Clarksdale area (where two railroads, the Southern and the Dog, cross tracks). Also, Tom Franklin's work is excellent, especially Poachers, and his most recent novel (written with his poet wife) is The Tilted World.
posted by mmiddle at 8:00 AM on October 15, 2014
posted by mmiddle at 8:00 AM on October 15, 2014
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Other more "classic" authors to consider: William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor.
posted by momus_window at 9:02 AM on October 14, 2014