Marc Smirnoff | Editor
Rick Bragg | Foreword
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Around the middle of Zora Neale Hurston's "Black Death," Docia cries to her mother: "Mommer, if [Beau] jus' hadn't tried to make me out a bad girl, I could look over the rest in time, Mommer, but--but he tried to make out--ah--" Why would Beau's offense be the stimulus of unfavorable gossip and public opinion toward Docia instead of his abandonment of and hatred toward his lover and child?
2. In "Black Death," Zora Neale Hurston writes that at the time of Docia's abandonment by Beau, Docia realized "that the world's greatest crime is not murder--its most terrible punishment is meted out to her of too much faith--too great a love." Is it really true that the worst fate is to have too much faith or love? Why or why not? Does Hurston believe this to be true? Why or why not?
3. Most readers of Tom Piazza's "Note in a Bottle" are like Mary, both understanding of and not understanding of her husband's obsession with 78's. Why is his Piazza's wife so patient with his strange mania? Why do collectors develop such strong feelings for items--from orchids to baseball cards to old books--that others might consider junk?
4. In "Memories of a Dead Man Walking," Sister Helen Prejean writes disparagingly of "biblical quarterbacking," preferring contemplation of facts and specific situations to abstract armchair theology. Does her opinion jeopardize her claim to be a woman of God, a Catholic nun? Why or why not?
5. "Fire Notes" is a great example of an essay which achieves almost complete reader empathy. How does Larry Brown touch the reader so personally in a way that a less skilled writer--even with a more dramatic plot--could not have?
6. Both William Gay and Mark Richard have distinctive writing styles. How does "My Hand Is Just Fine Where It Is" compare/contrast with "Memorial Day"? Is one of the stories more successful than the other at presenting a picture of the world? If so, does that mean that one is the better story?
7. The essays by Rick Bass, Marianne Gingher, and Barry Hannah each discuss significant childhood interests through which the speakers discover the world (or part of it) and are transformed in some way. How do these writers use specific examples to reveal larger themes? What important childhood experiences changed the way you view the world?
8. In "The Most Human Sound" Rosanne Cash describes how she blocked out the keening of an accident victim's wife in order to protect her own unborn child from upset. Later she throws away, without much incident, a newspaper account of the tragedy. What do these incidents say about humans' instinct to protect our young and to see that "life goes on"? Was Cash callous or justified? How would you have reacted to this tragedy had you been in Cash's situation?
9. In "Letter from Sister: What We Learned at the P.O.," Tony Earley illuminates the difference between Eudora Welty's famous story ("Why I Live at the P.O.") and failed attempts to imitate it. What other writers from the South do people often imitate, and what traits and devices of their work are most imitated? Would Earley condemn Erskine Caldwell as Hal Crowther does in "Erskine Caldwell: The Journey from Tobacco Road"?
10. There are many Southern stereotypes: some relate to race (as discussed in John Simpkins's "Forbidden Fruit"), others to social class (as Steve Yarbrough writes about in "Grandma's Table"), and still others to a sub-region within the South itself (as addressed in Tim Gautreaux's "Hussy in the Hood"). Do the pieces in this anthology successfully reach beyond stereotypes to present (or create) a believable picture of the world?
11. How does Marianne Gingher's "Horses and Boys" compare to other classic Southern coming-of-age stories, such as "The Adventures of Huck Finn"? What are common elements of the female coming-of-age story and are they the same or different from stories written by men?
12. Matthew Teague, in "The Chess King of Decatur Street," does a good job of walking the line between objectively observing his subject while also interacting with him and injecting himself into the story. What are some of the techniques he uses to achieve this? How could the story have been less successful? What other stories in this anthology put the same demands on the writer? Were they successful? Why or why not?
13. In Andrea Lee's "Anthropology," William Gay's "My Hand Is Just Fine Where It Is," and Mark Richard's "Memorial Day," the dialogue is not enclosed in quotation marks as it normally would be. Why do you think the authors chose not to use quotation marks? Is the effect of not using quotation marks the same in all three stories? In "Anthropology," why did Lee choose to set off the speaker’s cousin’s words in parentheses, but not the speaker’s or Aunt Noah’s?
14. Both Wendy Brenner’s "Mr. Puniverse" and Mark Richard’s "Memorial Day" contain elements of the magic realist style, in which surreal or impossible events occur in what otherwise seems like the normal, everyday world. Magic realism is often associated with South American authors such as Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Luis Borges, and Isabelle Allende. What does it mean for Southern writers to use this style?
15. In "First Tell Me What Kind of Reader You Are," Roy Blount Jr. writes, "I maintain you can’t live in the South and be a deep-dyed Southern writer," and then goes on to give his reasoning (p. 187). What do you think of this idea? Many writers who live in the South resist the label "Southern writer" because they consider themselves simply "writers." What do you think the pieces in this book reveal about contemporary writing in the South?
16. What do you make of Worth’s near-death vision, revealed near the end of John Jeremiah Sullivan’s "Feet in Smoke" (p. 300)? In what sense is this essay about music?
17. Do you feel this book is an accurate representation--a good cross section--of the first ten years of The Oxford American magazine?
18. The majority of pieces in the book allude to, are set in, recollect, or make reference to the past or distant past. Is the American South more concerned with the historical than other regions of the country? Is that good or bad?
19. With international conglomerates (from Starbucks, to McDonalds, to Wal-Mart) homogenizing taste, CNN and MTV defining news and popular culture globally, the Internet shortening the world, and the general transience of Americans, is there still a "South"? How is the definition of Southerness different today than it was fifty years ago? If "the South" still exists, how much longer will it still be a viable distinction in identity and art?