Reader-response from New Stories from the South, Raise Children Here by George Singleton. Length: One developed paragraph. Worth: 5 points. What is it about place in Southern literature that’s so important to authors and their characters? Can your hometown or state boast anything like the Fruitcake Capital of the World as mentioned in the story? Explain.
Stephen King (O. Henry Award winner himself!) is proving yet again that he is more than a one-trick pony. King is a master of characterization in my view and as any dramatist or writer would tell you more often than not, good stories start with characters. Well, one of Mr. King’s picks for the venerable Best American collection for 2007 is William Gay’s “Where Will You Go When Your Skin Cannot Contain You” which was originally published in Tin House. I have to admit I think Gay is one of our best writers. Having gone the MFA route myself I have to admit to admiring William Gay who comes to writing later in life after paying his dues in the wordmines (as Margaret Atwood says) perfecting his art. He’s been compared to Flannery O’Connor and Cormac McCarthy which is an apt comparison, but his writing is more personal in my view; whereas, McCarthy’s prose has an objective quality that can keep some readers at arm’s length from his characters. (At some point I may write about McCarthy on this blog detailing his peculiar virtues as well.) Gay’s story is about a crystal meth addict referred to as the Jeepster. It’s hard not to admire his sentences because since his collection, “I Hate to See that Evening Sun Go Down” I’ve noticed he doesn’t mind stepping on the reader’s neck with sentences full of piss and vinegar. He’s the author of The Long Home, Provinces of Night, and Twilight as well. His work is exciting, inspiring, and my only critical note would be that there aren’t more writers of his ilk.
