Southern LiteraturevI. The SouthvII. Southern RenaissancevIII. The “Lost Cause” YearsvIV. Major ThemesvV. CharacteristicsvVI. Major WritersI. I. The SouthvThe area known as the South has been described as stretching from the Gulf Coast states through Tennessee, Kentucky, and the Carolinas to Virginia and Maryland. II. II. Southern Renaissance vthe reinvigoration of American Southern literature that began in the 1920s and 1930s III. III. The “Lost Cause” YearsvPrior to this renaissance, Southern writers tended to focus onhistorical romances about the “Lost Cause” of the South’s Civil War defeatthe “idyllic culture” that existed before the war (known as the Antebellum South)vThe Southlost the Civil Warsuffered a harsh occupation (Reconstruction)vThese writers idealizedthe defeated Southits lost culturevIn 1884, Mark Twain publishedThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finnarguably the most influential southern novel of the 19th centuryIV. Major Featuresvtwistedvpessimisticvviolentvdistorted vgothicV. V. focusesvthe importance of familyvsense of communityvimportance of religionvimportance of time and placevexploration of the pastvsense of human limitation (moral dilemma)vuse of southern voice and dialectVIVI. . Southern Myths – guilt, failure, povertyv1.Chevalier heritage v2.Agrarian virtue v3.Plantation aristocracy v4.Lost cause v5.White supremacy v6.Purity of womanhood VIIVII. . Three major themesv1) burden of historyv2) conservative culturev3) racial issuesVIII. Major South WritersvKate Chopin, 凯特·肖邦,1851-1904vEllen Glasgow, 格拉斯哥,1873-1945vKatherine Anne Porter, 安·波特,1890-1980vWilliam Faulkner, 福克纳,1897-1962vAllen Tate, 艾伦·泰特, 1899-1979vMargaret Mitchell (1900-1949)Gone with the Wind vErskine Caldwell (1903-1987):Tobacco Road vEudora Welty (1904-2001) vRobert Penn Warren (1905-1989)vLillian Hellman (1905-1984)vRichard Wright (1908-1960): Native Son, 《土生子》vTennessee Williams (1911-1983):A Streetcar Named Desire《欲望号街车》vCarson McCullers (1917-1967) :The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter《心是孤独的猎人》vFlannery O'Connor (1925-1965)A Good Man is Hard to Find,《好人难寻》vHarper Lee (1926- )To Kill a Mockingbird,《杀死一只知更鸟》vAlice Walker (1944- )The Color Purple,《紫色》vAmong the writers of the Southern Renaissance, William Faulkner is arguably the most influential and famous, having won the Nobel Prize Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949.William Faulkner(1897-1962)vawarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949v“for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel”vThe man himself never stood taller than five feet, six inches tall, but in the realm of American literature, William Faulkner is a giant. William Faulkner in 1961, wearing his Farmington Hunt Club riding habit.I. I. Life: Larger than LifevFaulkner lived a colorful life and promoted some very colorful rumors about himself. vHe liked spreading and adding to the stories told about him so much that historians have trouble determining exactly what Faulkner actually did and what stories are simply rumors he endorsed.vBorn William Cuthbert Falkner in New Albany, Mississippi. vthe eldest son of his familyvFaulkner was raised in and heavily influenced by the state of Mississippi, as well as by the history and culture of the South as a whole.vWhen he was four years old, his entire family moved to the nearby town of Oxford, where he lived on and off for the rest of his life. vOxford: the model for the town of Jefferson in his fictionvLafayette County, Mississippi: the model for Yoknapatawpha CountyvUnable to join the US Army because of his height, (5' 5½“) vfirst joined the Canadian vthen the British Royal Air Forcevyet did not see any World War I wartime actionvFaulkner himself made the change to his last name in 1918 upon joining the Air Force. vBut according to one story, a careless typesetter simply made an error. vIt is believed that Faulkner attended the University of Mississippi for a couple years, but he did not graduate with a degree.vHe spent time drifting from job to job, including working as a bookstore clerk.vWhen the misprint appeared on the title page of Faulkner’s first book and the author was asked about it, he supposedly replied, “Either way suits me”.Faulkner in Paris→ vAlthough Faulkner is heavily identified with Mississippi, he was living in New Orleans in 1925 when he wrote his first novel, Soldiers' Pay, after being influenced by Sherwood Anderson to try fiction. The only known photograph of William Faulkner (right) with his eldest brother, John, was taken in 1949vAt the age of 32, Faulkner settled down and married Estelle Franklin, a woman he had known in high school but had drifted apart from for over a decade. vAt this point, Faulkner began writing seriously. vWithin three years he had three books published: The Sound and the FuryAs I Lay DyingLight in AugustvIn the 1940s, Faulkner struggled on and off until he published Intruder in the Dust in 1948, which was a success both in print and film. vFaulkner's 。