Customer Reviews

Southern Writers

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In their book SOUTHERN WRITERS essayist William W. Starr and photographer David G. Spielman have achieved what few people are able to do in that the biographies of the writers and their photographs are of equal importance. Mr. Starr for each of the 72 Southern authors, if I counted correctly, usually tells us, in one page, how each writer goes about working on his or her craft-- it is surprising how many of them still either write in longhand or plug away on an old typewriter-- and then discusses some of their works and sometimes includes a quotation from the writer. Some of the lions of course are included: Eudora Welty, Reynolds Price, William Styron. At least four have died since this book was published in 1997-- Ms. Welty, Mr. Styron, Larry Brown and Shelby Foote; and there may be others I do not know about. While most of the authors write literary fiction, there are also essayists, poets, writers of nonfiction, history writers, mystery writers and humorists included as well. I was pleased to see Mickey Spillane listed. My father, a blue-collar worker, loved his detective stories.

Mr. Spielman says in his "Photographer's Note" that he shot most of the photographs within a period of 210 days and that he wanted to catch his models showing their "natural expression-- the writers, their spaces and not the photographer's idea of these." He admirably accomplished his goal. With the exception of one or two writers, whose names shall remain anonymous, these writers-- Billy Baldwin, Jill McCorkle, Lee Smith, Ernest J. Gaines, Gail Godwin, Wendell Berry, Pat Conroy et al.-- make you want to sit on a front porch with them, drink a coffee or iced tea and listen to them spin a yarn. What many of them seem to have in common is that they inhabit spaces filled with delightful clutter.

One thing is certain: there will not be a shortage of fine writers from the Southern United States in the foreseeable future.