“Reading the South” will be an ongoing series about beginning an understanding of the South through literature, music, and art.

A reader wrote me this week inquiring about a number of things, and where to find good Southern writing was at the top of his list.  My answer was long and, I admit, a bit of a tirade.  However, he brings up a good point: where does one go to find good Southern writing?  And what qualifies as Southern writing, anyway?

The first thing one has to do is shake off the idea of “The South” as a monolith.  There are an infinite number of Souths, and we each experience them differently.  The man who operates a shrimp boat in Bayou le Batre has a specific South.  The dentist in the suburbs of Alpharetta has a South of his own, too.  A chemistry teacher in Chattanooga, a lawyer in Gulfport — all varied existenses in a mulitude of subcultures, but united by something we call the South.  But what is it?

In his seminal Mind of the South (stay with me now — this is where it gets deep), WJ Cash opens by asserting that there is “a profound coviction that the South is another land, sharply differentiated from the rest of the American nation, and exhibiting within itself a remarkable homogeneity.”  Simply, when Southerners identify themselves as Southerners, they are setting themselves in opposition to everything un-Southern.  We assume that the description alone carries with it a description of our values and even hints at our personalities.  Of course, Cash puts it better:

Nevertheless, if it can be said there are many Souths, the fact remains that there is also one South.  That is to say, it is easy to trace throughout the region…a fairly definite mental pattern, associated with a fairly definite social pattern — a complex of established relationships and habits of thought, sentiments, prejudices, standards and values, and associations of ideas.

In short, we are bound less by a common experience than a common idea of the South, and that idea is changing rapidly.  The South changes and is changing, and we change with it, if only imperceptibly.

So how do we meet Southerness head on?  How do we engage with it, grapple with it, and ultimately claim some understanding of it?  The answer is that we probably can’t, but we can damn well try.  We are an expressive and expansive people, and our art is the best place to start.  Here are a few places to begin reading the South as it stands, alive and breathing:

The Chattahoochee Review: a great journal with varied content, much of which is available online.  Of note is their “Podcasts” section, which contains interviews with authors, as well as lectures if you feel like making your commute educational.

Black Warrior Review: Experimental and definitely not just regional, BWR contains some highly innovative work.  Well worth checking out.

StorySouth: Self-Explanatory.  A great online hub for reading current authors.

The Louisiana Review: A much more regional thing.  Online content is scarce, but back issues are cheap.

Reading the South is an experiment.  It’s about working through what it means to be Southern and to be engaged with Southern arts and letters.  Let’s talk it out.  Tell me what you think.  We’re just getting warmed up.