Selected by the author, this anthology presents Chappell's work in a variet of forms--one complete novel, eight short stories, poems, a portion of four novels, and an Afterword. The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Not since James Agee and Robert Penn Warren has a Southern writer displayed such masterful versatility."
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This reader assembles portions of four novels, all of a short fifth one, some stories and a generous representation of Chappell's poetry (he shared the Bollingen Prize with John Ashberry in 1985). The scene of both fiction and verse is the author's native rural, western North Carolina; Chappell is a regionalist who speaks with the unmistakable authority of the native son. But his scene can also be the London visited by Franz Joseph Haydn, projected in a fanciful metaphoric tale (title story in the collection Moments of Light, or a university town (Chappell teaches at Duke). Seen in perspective, his work displays thematic range and venturesomeness; the collection offers a welcome opportunity to watch him shed the excessively literary and experimental manner of his early work. Present throughout are his taste for the strange and grotesque (as in the novel Dagon and a sense of hovering violence, as in the oblique "Children of Strikers," set in the mill town that is also a familiar presence in his work. In an afterword Chappell says that he is not an "important figure"; it is enough that he is a good, humane, versatile one.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
In a literary anthology, a classic horror story,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Fred Chappell Reader (Paperback)
This anthology includes the complete novel "Dagon," something of a literary oddity. It's part of a subgenre of horror fiction known as the Cthulhu Mythos, which comprises stories that make use of supernatural elements found in the stories of H.P. Lovecraft--mostly having to do with evil godlike monsters (or monsterlike gods) that ruled the Earth before the dawn of time. "Dagon" takes this premise, twists the genre from supernatural horror to Southern gothic, and presents it with utter psychological realism. The result is shocking and fascinating--sort of like reading a horror comic book written by William Faulkner. I wonder what fans of Southern literature make of "Dagon"--there's a few bits that must be baffling if you've never heard of Lovecraft. But the rest of the book isn't like this at all, so don't be scared off if this doesn't sound like your cup of tea. This is surely the best-written Cthulhu story ever. But few Lovecraft fans will ever find it here, with a generic title and a cover completely devoid of squiggly monsters. (The novel, I should note, has no squiggly monsters either--on the surface. But they're there--oh, boy, are they there.)
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