What is it about the South that has inspired so much of America's greatest literature? And why, when we think of Flannery O'Connor or William Faulkner or Harper Lee, do we think of them not just as writers, but as Southern writers? In South Toward Home, Margaret Eby--herself a Southerner--travels through the South in search of answers to these questions, visiting the hometowns and stomping grounds of some of our most beloved authors. From Mississippi (William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Richard Wright) to Alabama (Harper Lee, Truman Capote) to Georgia (Flannery O'Connor, Harry Crews) and beyond, Eby looks deeply at the places that these authors lived in and wrote about. South Toward Home reveals how these authors took the people and places they knew best and transmuted them into lasting literature.
Side by side with Eby, we meet the man who feeds the peacocks at Andalusia, the Georgia farm where Flannery O'Connor wrote her most powerful stories; we peek into William Faulkner's liquor cabinet to better understand the man who claimed civilization began with distillation and the postage stamp of native soil that inspired him; and we go in search of one of New Orleans's iconic hot dog vendors, a job held by Ignatius J. Reilly in John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. From the library that showed Richard Wright that there was a way out to the courtroom at the heart of To Kill a Mockingbird, Eby grapples with a land fraught with history and mythology, for, as Eudora Welty wrote, One place understood helps us understand all places better.
Combining biographical detail with expert criticism, Eby delivers a rich and evocative tribute to the literary South.
What is it about the South that has inspired so much of America's greatest literature? And why do we think of the authors it influenced not just as writers, but as Southern writers? In South Toward Home, Margaret Eby goes in search of answers to these questions, visiting the stomping grounds of ten Southern authors, including William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Richard Wright, Truman Capote, Harper Lee, and Flannery O'Connor. Combining biographical detail with expert criticism, Eby delivers a rich and evocative tribute to the literary South.
What do we know about Caroline? Neil Diamond says she's sweet and The Beach Boys say she prefers short hair when she's older. And what about guys named Victor? Prince and Blondie say Victor is possibly a saint, but also flees from the law. Offering the rock-and-roll definitions of these and dozens more popular names, the wildly popular Rock 'n' Roll Baby Name Dictionary post on Flavorwire drew over fifty thousand hits days after it was launched. Now its creator, pop-culture writer Margaret Eby, rolls out the complete encyclopedia, from Alison to Ziggy and everyone in between.
Rock and Roll Baby Names lets every music-savvy parent discover a name's role in rock history. Each entry explains a classical definition and a definition of the name from song lyrics, along with fun liner notes about the featured song or band. Sidebars include Best Punk Rock Names for Boys and Weirdest Rock Star Children's Names, with quizzes such as Which Rebel Name Should You Give Your Girl? Every modern baby-from the Girl Next Door to the Rebels and Renegades-will find a legendary legacy in these pages.