Joel Chandler Harris
Margaret Mitchell
Flannery O'Connor
Georgia Authors
http://webtech.cherokee.k12.ga.us/creekland-ms/LieslNew/joel_chandler_harris.htm
Pat Conroy
Sidney Lanier
Celestine Sibley
Lewis Grizzard
Conrad Aiken
Georgia Encyclopedia
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Categories.jsp?path=Literature
When Comparing Authors…
Note the following:
• Genre
• Style
• Themes
Joel Chandler Harris
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
•Folktales
•His characters
http://stp.ling.uu.se/~starback/dcml/chars/brers.html
•The Wren’s Nest
http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/atlanta/har.htm
The stories, based on the African-American oral storytelling tradition, were
revolutionary in their use of dialect and in featuring a trickster hero called
Brer “Brother”) Rabbit, who uses his wits against adversity, though his efforts
do not always succeed. The frog is the trickster character in traditional tales
in Central and Southern Africa. The stories, which began appearing in the
Atlanta Constitution in 1879, were popular among both Black and White
readers in the North and South
GA Encyclopedia - http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?path=/Literature/Fiction/Authors&id=h-525
Margaret Mitchell
“American author of the enormously popular novel GONE WITH THE WIND (1936), story
about the Civil War and Reconstruction as seen from the Southern point of view. The book
was adapted into a highly popular film in 1939, starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh. At the
novel's opening in 1861, Scarlett O'Hara is a young girl. During the story she experiences
Secession, the Civil War, Reconstruction, as well as three marriages and motherhood.”
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/mmitchel.htm
Margarett Mitchell Museum in Atlanta
http://gwtw.org/
Video Clip
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031381/trailers-screenplayE10016-310
GA Encyclopedia - http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2566
Lewis Grizzard
• Lewis McDonald Grizzard, Jr. (b. Oct. 20, 1946- d. March 20, 1994)
was an American writer and humorist, famous for his Southern
demeanor and commentary on the American South. Although he
spent the early career as a newspaper writer and editor, becoming
sports editor of the Atlanta Journal at age 23, he is much better
known for his humorous columns in the Atlanta JournalConstitution.
• He also published 25 books, including If I Ever Get Back to Georgia,
I'm Gonna Nail My Feet to the Ground, I Haven’t Understood
Anything since 1962, and Chili Dawgs Always Bark at Night and was
a popular stand-up comedian. Although much of his comedy
discussed the South and Grizzard’s life, it was also a commentary
on issues prevalent throughout America, including divorce,
politics, and health. Lewis Grizzard was the stepbrother of
Southern humorist Ludlow Porch.
Pat Conroy
http://www.patconroy.com/
Pat Conroy (born Oct. 26, 1945 in Atlanta, GA),
-New York Times bestselling author who has
written several acclaimed novels and memoirs.
He was the eldest of 7 children born to Marine
Colonel Donald Conroy, of Chicago and the
former Frances "Peggy" Peck of Georgia.
Conroy's stories have been heavily influenced
by his upbringing and by tragedies in his
family over the years. His father, a military
pilot who flew nuclear weapons, used both
physical and psychological violence against his
children, and the pain of a youth growing up in
such a harsh environment is evident in
Conroy's novels, particularly The Great Santini.
Conroy is a graduate of The Citadel, and his experiences there
were the inspiration for two of his best-known works, the
novel The Lords of Discipline and the memoir My Losing
Season.
http://www.geocities.com/lowenstein1992/patconroy.html
Sidney Lanier
• Sidney Lanier contributed significantly to the arts in
19th Century America. His accomplishments as a poet,
novelist, composer, and critic reflect his eclectic
interests, and his melodic celebrations of Georgia's
terrain are among his most widely read poems. His
works reflect a love of the land, as well as his concern
over declining values and commercial culture in the
Reconstruction South. Some of his writings extol the
rhythmic natural world and the religious vision it
evokes. Lake Lanier was dedicated to him in 1955 in
recognition of his life and accomplishments, and in
2000 he was inducted as a charter member into the
Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.
Flannery O’Conner
“American writer, particularly acclaimed for her stories which combined
comic with tragic and brutal. Flannery O'Connor belonged to the Southern
Gothic tradition that focused on the decaying South and its damned people.
O'Connor's body of work was small, consisting of only 31 stories, 2 novels,
and some speeches and letters.
"Does one's integrity ever lie in what he is not able to do?
I think that usually it does, for free will does not mean one will,
but many wills conflicting in one man, Freedom cannot be conceived
simply." (from Wise Blood, 1952)
Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia, the only child of a
Catholic family.”
Southern Gothic –
• a great way of explaining the term southern gothic is
comparing it with Winslow Homer’s American Gothic. It
is a quintessential representation of a geographical
location and the people and customs from that region.
• Gothic writers tend to stereotype their characters but
still maintain to perplex and astound the reader at what
they reveal through their writing. Being described as
southern gothic also classifies O’Connor with the
southern United State’s literary tradition along with
Margaret Mitchum, Faulkner, and Tennessee Williams.
Celestine Sibley
“…an Atlanta newspaper columnist who for 55 years wrote
about the commonplaces of Southern life in a prose as
soothing as the hum of cicadas in summer…” NY Times
• Celestine Sibley, a renowned southern author,
journalist, and syndicated columnist, reported for the
Atlanta Constitution from 1941 to 1999. Over her long
career, she wrote more than 10,000 columns and
many news stories of astonishing range, dealing with
such varied topics as politics and key lime pie. Sibley
was one of the most popular and long-running
columnists for the Constitution, and her well-written
and poignant essays on southern culture made her an
icon in the South. Regarded by her colleagues as a
reporting legend, Sibley was also the accomplished
author of nearly 30 books published between 1958
and 1997.
Conrad Aiken
List of works http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/751
Aiken’s burial site in Bonaventure
Cemetery in Savannah
American poet, short story writer, critic and novelist. Most of Aiken's work reflects
his intense interest in psychoanalysis and the development of identity.
From the 1920s Aiken divided his life between England and the U.S., playing a
significant role in introducing American poets to the British audience.
"All lovely things will have an ending,
All lovely things will fade and die,
And youth, that's now so bravely spending,
Will beg a penny and by."
(from 'All Lovely Things Will Have an Ending')
Conrad Aiken was born in Savannah, GA. In his childhood Aiken experienced a
considerable trauma when he found the bodies of his parents-his physician father,
brilliant but unstable, had killed his mother and committed suicide.
In 1930 Aiken was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his collection SELECTED POEMS