1iss1ssipi)1 faulkner and the ecology of the...

28
,. I Ill: llNIVI RSII Y 01 '\1ISS1SSIPI)1 "FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTH" Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha July 20~24, 2003 ::l he heart of ecology is relationship: at the fullest and most complex level, the relations between human beings and theentire array of their physical and social environments. Much of our attention ro Faulkner's fiC. tion has been, not surprisingly, on the individual. His work is filled with memorable characters, manyof whom are memorable precisely because of their uniqueness, often their isolation, within the community. Now, as our concern with ecology grows, our recognition that in many ways the determination of the quality of our lives lies in how we relate to each other and to the world at large, we begin to see how Faulkner's work, his Yoknapatawpha world, isabout relationship: How his distinct communities, black and white,town and country, native and foreign, relate to each other. How characters necessarilyencounter natural and built environments that always precede them, structuring their actions.How person and place become virtually asingle, inseparable unit of being. Some of the topics of "Faulkner and the Ecology of the South" that will be taken up by nine lecturers and six panelists will be the significance of the highly varied places of Absalom, Absalom!, the representation of labor in The Hamlet, comparison of the representations ofYoknapatawpha and Lafayette County in Faulkner's novelsand John McCrady's paintings, Faulkner's Native Americans and theplantation economy. In addition to the formal lectures and panel discussions, Tom Franklin will give a reading from his new novel Hell at the Breech. There will also be sessions onTeaching Faulkner, tours of North Mississippi, announcement of the winner of the 14th Faux Faulkner Contest, readings from Faulkner, and an assortment of social gatherings, includinga buffet supper at historic Isom Place, a picniCat Rowan Oak, and a closingparty at Square Books. For more information about the conference, contact the Office of Professional Development and Non-Credit Education, PostOffice Box 879, The University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677-0879; telephone 662-915-7283; fax 662-915-5138; e-mail noncred@olemiss.edu; www.outreach.olemiss.edu or www.olemiss.edu/depts/south/faulkner/index.htm. For information about participating in the conference through Elderhostel, call 877 -426-8056 and refer to the program number 5760, or contact Carolyn Vance Smith by telephone (601-446-1208) or e-mail (carolyn.smith@colin.edu). DONALD M. KARTlGANER Oxford on the Hill, by John McCrady (1911-1968), is used as the illustration for the 2003 Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference poster and program courtesy of the City of Oxford, owner of the painting. Flat copies of this poster and another one with a McCrady painting, Political Rally, are available for $10.00 each plus $3.50 postage and handling. Mississippi residents add 7 percent sales tax. Send all orders to the Center for the Study of Southern Culture with a check made payable to the University of Mississippi or with Visa or MasterCard account number and expiration date. Credit card orders also may be made by calling 800-390-3527.

Upload: others

Post on 17-Feb-2020

0 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

,. I Ill: llNIVI RSII Y 01 '\1ISS1SSIPI)1

"FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTH"Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha

July 20~24, 2003

::lhe heart of ecology is relationship: at the fullest andmost complex level, the relations between humanbeings and the entire array of their physical and socialenvironments. Much of our attention ro Faulkner'sfiC.tion has been, not surprisingly, on the individual. Hiswork is filled with memorable characters, many of whomare memorable precisely because of their uniqueness, often

their isolation, within the community. Now, as our concern withecology grows, our recognition that in many ways the determination ofthe quality of our lives lies in how we relate to each other and to theworld at large, we begin to see how Faulkner's work, hisYoknapatawpha world, is about relationship: How his distinctcommunities, black and white, town and country, native and foreign,relate to each other. How characters necessarily encounter natural andbuilt environments that always precede them, structuring theiractions. How person and place become virtually a single, inseparableunit of being.Some of the topics of "Faulkner and the Ecology of the South" that

will be taken up by nine lecturers and six panelists will be thesignificance of the highly varied places of Absalom, Absalom!, therepresentation of labor in The Hamlet, comparison of therepresentations of Yoknapatawpha and Lafayette County in Faulkner'snovels and John McCrady's paintings, Faulkner's Native Americansand the plantation economy.In addition to the formal lectures and panel discussions, Tom

Franklin will give a reading from his new novel Hell at the Breech.There will also be sessions on Teaching Faulkner, tours of NorthMississippi, announcement of the winner of the 14th Faux FaulknerContest, readings from Faulkner, and an assortment of socialgatherings, including a buffet supper at historic Isom Place, a picniC atRowan Oak, and a closing party at Square Books.For more information about the conference, contact the

Office of Professional Development and Non-Credit Education,Post Office Box 879, The University of Mississippi, University,MS 38677-0879; telephone 662-915-7283; fax 662-915-5138;e-mail [email protected]; www.outreach.olemiss.edu orwww.olemiss.edu/depts/south/faulkner/index.htm.For information about participating in the conference through

Elderhostel, call 877 -426-8056 and refer to the program number 5760,or contact Carolyn Vance Smith by telephone (601-446-1208) ore-mail ([email protected]).

DONALD M. KARTlGANER

Oxford on the Hill, by John McCrady (1911-1968), is used as the

illustration for the 2003 Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference

poster and program courtesy of the City of Oxford, owner of the

painting. Flat copies of this poster and another one with a McCrady

painting, Political Rally, are available for $10.00 each plus $3.50

postage and handling. Mississippi residents add 7 percent sales tax. Send

all orders to the Center for the Study of Southern Culture with a check

made payable to the University of Mississippi or with Visa or

MasterCard account number and expiration date. Credit card orders

also may be made by calling 800-390-3527.

Page 2: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

Southern RemsterPublishedQuarterly by

The Center for the Study of Southern CultureThe University ofMississippiTelephone662-915-5993Fax: 662-915-5814

E-mail:[email protected]: http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/south

IN THIS ISSUESpring/Summer 2003

2003 F&Y Conference

2 Director's Column

3 Southern Studies Faculty News

3 First International Conference on Race

4 Student Photography Exhibition

5 Bertolaet Exhibition

5 Gammill Gallery Exhibition Schedule

6 2004 F&Y Call for Papers

6 Teacher Seminars

7 Brown Bag Schedule

8 History Symposium

9 Tennessee Williams Festival

10 Mississippi Traditional Music Project

12 Living Blues Symposium

13 Reading the South

19 Southern Foodways Alliance News

21 2003 Oxford Conference for the Book

23 Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour

24 Ella King Torrey: A Remembrance

25 Regional Roundup

25 Notes on Contributors

26 Ensley Gives Meredith Photo to Center

27 Southern Culture Catalog Items

28 Address Section/Mailing List Form/

Friends Information and Form

REgISTER STAFFEditor: Ann J. Abadie

Graphic Designer: Heather Chappell

Design Assistant: Jill Yoe

MailingList Manager: MaryHartwell Howorth

Lithographer: RRDonnelleyMagazineGroupThe University complies with all applicable lawsregarding affirmative action and equal opportunity in allits activities and programs and does not discriminateagainst anyone protected by law because of age,co!or,disability, national origin, race, religion, sex, orstatus as a veteran or disabled veteran.

DIRECTOR'S COLUMN

The spring semester ended with a lovely graduation day ceremony,sandwiched between unusually stormy days in Mississippi. The ritual end of theacademic year and the coming of spring have caused me to reflect on Center work inrecent months and to look ahead to what is coming next.It was a lively semester, punctuated by several major events. The Southern Studies

Faculty Forum showcased the research of our core faculty, showing the range of interestsand achievement of their work. As interdisciplinary scholars, they drew from theoreticalliterature, diverse primary sources, and provocative ideas. It was work in progress, andthose in attendance caught glimpses of future major studies. As part of the Center's 25thanniversary celebration, the Faculty Forum represented a new dialogue among ourfaculty, which we hope will always continue.The first "Blues Today Symposium" took place in February, a new extension of the

Center's long interest in studying blues music. It brought together academics, musiccritics, and performers, in an altogether distinctive and stimulating forum. AfricanAmerican critic Stanley Crouch gave the keynote address, and one panel featured bluesmusicians Little Milton, Willie King, and Bobby Rush talking about the blues-thisafter performing a concert the night before. Commentators talk too much about thedeath of the blues. Anyone in Mississippi knows it is alive and well, different from thepast surely, but supported by a new generation of performers and new venues in festivalsand in clubs, such as Isaac Byrd's 630 Blues Cafe in Jackson and Morgan Freeman andBill Luckett's Ground Zero in Clarksdale. Living Blues magazine is now involved inefforts to bring increased appreciation of the blues through working with other partiesthroughout the state to promote the blues as part of cultural tourism.The Oxford Conference for the Book quietly celebrated its 10th anniversary in

April, with a meeting that honored novelist, dramatist, and critic Stark Young. It alsohighlighted bright young novelists like Calvin Baker and Scott Morris, wild men likeGeorge Singleton (read The Half-Mammals of Dixie and you will know why he is wild),and the prolific Percival Everett. Ted Ownby moderated one of my favorite sessions, apanel on "Writing Memoirs" that included the typical diversity of three seeminglyunrelated memoirists, whose commonalities and differences made for fascinatinglistening. The conference every year also features local talent, as this year with DavidGalef and students in the University's creative writing program. The OxfordConference for the Book has become a community mainstay, and this year broughtpeople from two dozen states to enjoy one of the South's premier literary festivals.Our next conferences will draw attention to our new initiative to study the

environment in the South. The initiative is not entirely new, as we began this effortseveral years ago with a year-long Southern Studies Colloquium on the environment,during which we brought in Scott Slovic, director of the Center for Environmental Artsand Humanities at the University of Nevada, as consultant to think about ways tohighlight our interest in the environment. This year's Faulkner and YoknapatawphaConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the South," and thetheme of the Porter L. Fortune History Symposium, September 17-19, will be "TheEnvironment and Southern History." These two meetings will bring scholars to campusto explore literary and historical dimensions on a topic with broad interdisciplinaryappeal.Much of the study of the environment has been in the West, but we hope these

meetings, and the Center's continued interest in the environment, will give newmomentum to a field of Southern environmental studies. As part of this initiative,David Wharton, director of Documentary Studies, is working with the AudubonSociety in Mississippi to launch a new documentary fieldwork project at StrawberryPlains, a major environmental preserve in Marshall County, Mississippi. Finally, we areworking with Bob Haws, chair of the Department of History and the Center's foreignsecretary, and Joe Urgo, chair of the Department of English, to attract internationalscholars to the University to take part in these environmental-focused events and otherprojects.We invite all the readers of the Southern Register to take part in our conferences as

we pursue long interests in the blues and literature and as we build on our new interestin the Southern environment.

CHARLES REAGAN WILSON

Page 2 Spring/Summer 2003 The Southern Register

Page 3: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

Southern Studies Faculty NewsThe Center's two McMullan Professors in Southern Studies whohold joint appointments in Liberal Arts-Robbie Ethridge(anthropology) and Kathryn McKee (English)-were awardedtenure this spring. Congratulations to these two outstandingteachers and scholars!

Robbie Ethridge, McMullan assistant professor of Southern Studiesand assistant professor of anthropology, is the recipient of a 2003University of Mississippi Office of Research Faculty ResearchFellowship, which will fund her research project titled "ChickasawSlaving: Responding in a Shatter Zone." The fellowship willsupport two months of summer research in the Archives Nationalesde France (French National Archives), examining French colonialdocuments for evidence of the Chickasaws' participation in theslave trade with Europeans during the 17th and 18th centuries. Shewill spend three weeks in Paris and the remainder of the time inAix-en-Provence at Le Centre des Archives d'Outre Mer (Centerfor the Colonial Archives).

Adam Gussow, assistant professor of English and Southern Studies,has won Honorable Mention in the 2003 John G. Cawelti BookAward, sponsored by the American Culture Association, for"outstanding scholarly inquiry into American culture," for his bookSeems Like Murder Here: Southern Violence and the Blues Tradition.This summer Gussow will be using a College of Liberal Arts summerresearch grant to support a project focusing on discourses andenactments of racial healing and racial reconciliation in theAmerican South. On Sunday, July 13, he will be tossing aside hi~researcher's hat to play blues harmonica (or "blow harp," to use thevernacular) with drummer Sam Carr and the Delta Jukes at a freeconcert in the Grove at Ole Miss. Also on the bill will be Georgiablueswoman Precious Bryant.

First International Conference on Race: Racial ReconciliationOn October 1-4, 2003, the University's

William Winter Institute for RacialReconciliation will host a four-dayconference exploring racial reconciliationin international c.ontexts. Presentationswill emphasize how local action-oriented initiatives resolve conflict.

The event will mark the close of theOpen Doors commemorative year at theUniversity. Begun October 1, 2002, thecommemoration has recognized thecourage of James Meredith and all faculty,staff, students, and alumni who haveworked for inclusion and greateropportunity and access. The yearconcludes with the internationalconference on racial reconciliation andthe dedication of a civil rights memorial tobe placed in the green space between theLyceum and the John Davis WilliamsLibrary, in the heart of the campus.The conference will begin with the

memorial dedication on October 1,followed by a community dinner in the<::;ircle.The dinner hearkens back to thesuccessful event in the Circle on October1, 2002, attended by 2,500 people fromdiverse backgrounds. On Thursday, theconference will offer panels and workshopsessions showcasing different methodsfor teaching about race.Friday's events will include

presentations by practitioners andacademics reflecting on local methods ofconflict resolution from across the globe.Charlayne Hunter-Gault has been invitedto make the keynote address. Hunter-Gault, one of the first black students at theUniversity of Georgia, is an award-winningjournalist who has covered race in theUnited States as well as reporting frompostapartheid South Africa. Hunter-Gault's work nationally and internationallyreflects the themes of the conference.

On Saturday will be additionalpresentations and a plenary session withRev. James Lawson, a noted civil rightsactivist and proponent of reconciliation. Aspecial highlight of the conference will bepresentations by University students onthe themes of the conference."The conference helps cement the goals

of the year of Open Doors," said WinterInstitute director Susan M. Glisson."The year began by noting our ownunique history and will now concludeby considering our commonalitieswith communities around the worldattempting to build inclusive, successfulsocieties. The conference," she added,"places the University at the forefront ofinternational dialogue on racialreconciliation. "For more information, visit

www.olemiss.edu/opendoors/ andwww.olemiss.edu/winterinstitute.

The Southern Register Page 3Spring/Summer 2003

Page 4: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

Student PhotographersExhibited in Gammill Gallery

During the fall semester of 2002, members of the Southern Studies Documentary Photography seminar, taught by David Wharton,traveled throughout Oxford and Lafayette County making images addressing the interrelated themes of tradition and change. Therewere ten students in the course: Warren Ables, Sarah Alford, Brooke Butler, Ben Cannon, Ejia East, Hunter Gates, Judy Griffin,Dianne Jackson, Kendra Myers, and Todd Parker. At the end of the semester, each student compiled a 20-print portfolio of his/her bestimages. As a group, the students also selected 71 of the photographs for exhibition at Barnard Observatory's Gammill Gallery. Thatexhibition, Yoknapatawpha 2002: Of Tradition and Change, was shown at the gallery from March through May 2003. Here are a few ofthe pictures. More can be seen at the "special projects" link from the Center's Web site (www.olemiss.edu/depts/south).

Otha Turner, Foodways Conference,Oxford

Tombstone, Oxford

Child Playing,Lafayette County Courthouse,Oxford

Spring/Summer 2003 The Southern RegisterPage 4

Page 5: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

BERTOLAET

to Exhibit inGammill GalleryPhotographer Todd Bertolaet's Red Hills to Gulf

Shores: Autographics will be on exhibit at BarnardObservatory's Gammill Gallery through August 31,2003.There will be a reception for the artist on Sunday, July 20,at 1:00 p.m.Bertolaet is professor of photography and coordinator of

the photography program at Florida A&M University,where he has taught since 1986. He is the author ofCrescent Rivers: Waterways of Florida's Big Bend (UniversityPress of Florida, 1998). His photographs have beenpublished in numerous magazines and exhibitedthroughout the United States in more than 100 juried,solo, and invitational exhibitions.His most recent project, Red Hills to Gulf Shores:

Autographics, incorporates hand-written drawings and textwith photographic imagery to create narratives of historical,environmental, and personal significance. Many of hispieces are photographic collages that juxtapose the South'sonce-natural landscape with images of how human activityhas altered that landscape. Bertolaet's drawings and texts,hand-written in white ink on the photographs' blackmargins, are variously wry, poignant, and tongue-in-cheekdisingenuous. The result is a body of work that is unfailinglybeautiful and often funny and sad at the same time.

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE

I \ 11 11 & 'I c: II ,\ I t

Gammill

June 4 ' August 31, 2003Red Hills to Gulf Shores: AutographicsTodd Bertolaet

September 1 ' October 31, 2003Southern PhotographsDavid Wharton

GalleryNovember 1 ' January 15Thunder and Grace: Racing on AmericanDirtSusan Bauer Lee

The Gammill Gallery, located in Barnard Observatory, isopen Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., exceptfor University holidays. Telephone: 662-915-5993.

The Southern Register Spring/Summer 2003 Page 5

Page 6: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

CALL FOR PAPERSThe 31st Annual Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference

"Faulkner and Material Culture"The University of Mississippi

July 25-29,2004The aim of cultural studies is to situate the literary text within the

multi varied phenomena of cultural context. It is to see the textnot so much as a unique object, somehow separate from itssocio/political/economic origins, but as touching every level of the culturalfabric within which it was created. As Catherine Gallagher and StephenGreenblatt have written, the task of cultural criticism is "finding thecreative power that shapes literary works outside the narrow boundaries inwhich it had hitherto been located, as well as within those boundaries."While we often think of culture, both "high" and "low," in terms of the

creations of language-from lyric poetry to locker-room limericks, the visualarts-from Old Master paintings to subwaygraffiti, and music-from stringquartets to rap, perhaps most abundant and having the most bearing onhow we live (and what we create) is the material world we often do not seein "cultural" terms, because we are so deeply embedded in it. This is thematerial way of our lives, our homes, our clothes, our transportation, ourwork, our sport, our food and drink. Each is a source of creative power andeach is itself a product of such power.The world of Faulkner's fiction is a world of material abundance,

intensified for readers by its relationship to the real world in whichFaulkner lived and wrote and which he "translated" into "Yoknapatawpha."The 2004 Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference will explore Faulkner'smaterial world in its fictional and historical manifestations. Consider, forexample, the significance of houses in Faulkner, from the Rowan Oakestate, which he renovated and lived in for 30 years, to the homes ofSurpen and McCaslin, McCallum and Bundren. Or the importance ofcostume for this writer, who alternately presented himself in the "dandy"garb of "Count No 'Count" and the aristocratic hunting dress of Virginia,and described meticulously the strangely contradictory clothing of JoeChristmas: trousers soiled but sharply creased, shirt soiled but white, "andhe wore a tie and a stiffbrim straw hat that was quite new, cocked at anangle arrogant and baleful above his still face."What do these material concerns tell us about Faulkner and his fiction?

What is the work and play of men and women in his world?What does itmean to be a planter or a sharecropper, a horse-trader or spinner of tales?How do we read the "shards of pottery and broken bottles and old brick"surrounding the graves in "Pantaloon in Black," the "hog-bone with bloodmeat still on it" in "That Evening Sun," the "graphophone" that is theculminating prize at the end of the journey in As I Lay Dying?We are inviting both 50-minute plenary addresses and IS-minute

papers for this conference. Plenary papers consist of approximately 6,000words and will be published by the University Press of Mississippi.Conference papers consist of approximately 2,500 words and will bedelivered at panel sessions.For plenary papers the 14th edition of the University of Chicago

Manual of Style should be used as a guide in preparing manuscripts. Threecopies of manuscripts must be submitted by January 15, 2004. Notificationof selection will be made by March 1, 2004. Authors whose papers \Ireselected for presentation at the conference and publication will receive(I) a waiver of the conference registration fee, (2) lodging at theUniversity Alumni House from Saturday, July 24, through Thursday, July29, and (3) reimbursement of travel expenses, up to $500 ($.345 a mile byautomobile or tourist class air fare).For short papers, three copies of two-page abstracts must be submitted

by January 15, 2004. Notification will be made byMarch 1, 2004. Authorswhose papers are selected for panel presentation will receive a waiver of the$275 conference registration fee. In addition to commercial lodging,inexpensive dormitory rooms are available.All manuscripts and inquiries should be addressed to Donald Kartiganer,

Department of English, The University of Mississippi, University, MS38677. Telephone: 662-915-5793, e-mail: [email protected]. Panelabstracts may be sent bye-mail attachment; plenary manuscripts shouldonly be sent by conventional mail.

TEACHERS~EMIN ARSMississippi teachers-120 from throughout the state-and

50 other participants attended two seminars on GeorgeWashington this winter-one on Thursday, February 6, in atthe State Historical Museum in Jackson and the other onSaturday, February 8, at the Center in Oxford.The seminar in Jackson opened with Dennis Pogue's

slide lecture "George Washington: Architect andEntrepreneur." The presentation was based on the speaker'sstudy of anthropology and his work on archaeological andarchitectural investigations at Mount Vernon, where he isassociate director for preservation. For her presentationabout Martha Washington, Mary Thompson drew on theextensive materials in the Collections Department atMount Vernon, where she is a research specialist. LarryEarl, director of education at the Charles Wright Museumof African American History, used stories and songs toillustrate slave life at Mount Vernon. William Sommerfieldand Pat Jordan, of the American Historical Theatre inPhiladelphia, drew on their study of history and readletters, real and fictional, to portray George and MarthaWashington for the audience.The seminar in Oxford began with a presentation by

Frank Grizzard, who drew on his study of history and hiswork as an editor of the Papers of George Washington todiscuss Washington's military career. Historian and OleMiss alumnus Jack D. Warren drew on his work as a formereditor of the Papers of George Washington to discussWashington's political career. Historians Scott Casper andCharles Wilson used slides and displayed assortedmementoes in their presentation "George Washington andElvis Presley: Cultural Icons of the 18th and 20thCenturies." William Sommerfield used letters, assortedhistorical documents, newspapers, histories, andbiographies to portray George Washington in the"Presidential News Conference" program.The Center and George Washington's Mount Vernon

Estate sponsored the programs in collaboration with theMississippi Department of Education and the MississippiDepartment of Archives and History and with financialsupport from the Phil Hardin Foundation and theMississippi Humanities Council."Our goal was to make George Washington come alive

to teachers so they can help their students appreciate thefundamental role Washington played in the founding ofour nation and, through his example, to discover ways inwhich they, too, can serve their family and community,"said Lynn Crosby Gammill of Hattiesburg, who chairsMount Vernon's Education Committee. "The seminarswere especially important for teachers in Mississippi, wherethe study of Colonial America is often neglected or plays aminor role in a society that emphasizes the Civil War andits aftermath.

Page 6 The Southern RegisterSpring/Summer 2003

Page 7: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

III

..J

..J

~::;:..:oiOCfJoor:Uzz~""'C' -~

William Sommerfield, the actor who often portraysGeorge Washington at Mount Vernon's most importevents, and actress Pat Jordan, who plays MarthaWashington, participated in the February 6 seminar forMississippi teachers.

..J

..J

~::;:..:oiOCfJoor:Uzz..JActor William Sommerfield poses with cardboardcutout of Elvis Presley during February 8 seminarduring which Mississippi teachers attended a sessionon "George Washington and Elvis Presley: CulturalIcons of the 18th and 20th Centuries."

THE BROWN BAG LUNCH AND LECTURE SERIES

Center for the Studyof Southern CultureJ

T II E U N I \' E R S J T Y 0 F ,\1 r 5 S r S SIP P [

FALL 2003

SEPTEMBER

3 '''Run Tell That': Spreading the Word about the MississiPPi Encyclopedia"Andrea Finley - Managing EditorTed Ownby - Professor of History and Southern Studies

10 "Safe at Home: Examining the Culture of the Oxford High SchoolBaseball Community"Christopher Hedglin - Southern Studies Graduate Student

17 "'The Environment and Southern History':Porter L. Fortune Symposium - September 17-19, 2003"Charles Wilson - Director, Center for the Study of Southern CultureProfessor of History and Southern StudiesJack Temple Kirby - W. E. Smith Professor of HistoryMiami University of Ohio

24 "October lA, 2003 - First International Conferenceon Race: Racial Reconciliation"Susan M. Glisson - Director, Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation

OCTOBER

"The Southern Foodways Alliance at the Five- Year Mark"John T. Edge - Director, Southern Foodways Alliance

8 "The Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival in Clarksdale"Panny Mayfield - Clarksdale, MississippiColby Kullman, Professor of English

15 "Segregation through the Lens: The John E. Phay Collection"Jennifer Aronson - Curator of Visual Collections, J. D. Williams Library

22 "Mortuary Ritual at the Ole Miss Confederate Cemetery"Allan LemmonAnthropology Graduate Student

29 "More Southern Photographs: An Expanded Gallery Talk"David Wharton - Director of Documentary ProjectsAssistant Professor of Southern Studies

NOVEMBER5 "Local History it la Lowndes County"

Russell D. James, Billups-Garth Archives and Manuscript LibrarianColumbus-Lowndes Public LibraryColumbus, Mississippi

12 "Bim Jackson's Ruleville Movies"Marlow Dorrough - Film EditorDirector, Freshman Mathematics

19 "Talking Dirty: A Sprint Car Driver's Story"

Kendra Myers - Southern Studies Graduate Student

The Brown Bag Lunch and Lecture Series takes place each Wednesday at noon in theBarnard Observatory Lecture Hall during the regular academic year.

The Southern Register Spring/Summer 2003 Page 7

Page 8: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

PORTER L. FORTUNE

HISTORY SYMPOSIUMCenter director Charles Reagan Wilson

is directing the 23rd Porter L. FortuneHistory Symposium, September 17-19,2003, at the Yerby Center at the Universityof Mississippi. The topic is "TheEnvironment and Southern History." Thisyear's meeting draws from recentscholarship on the topic and shouldcontribute to a growing momentum ofSouthern environmental studies.Historian Jack Temple Kirby, author of

Poquosin: A Study of Rural Landsca/Je andSociety and Rural Worlds Lost: The AmericanSouth, 1920-1960, will give the keynoteaddress, based in his current research on ahistory of the Southern environment. (SeeSymposium schedule, opposite page.) He will

touch on the idea of a field of Southernenvironmental history and tell aboutMarjorie Kinnan Rawlings, the Floridawriter whose understanding of thelandscape of Cross Creek made her a primeliterary chronicler of the Southernenvironment.Other presenters at the symposium

include Mart Stewart, who will give anupdated look at the climate and Southernhistory; Shepard Krech, who will look atthe cultural meanings that emerge fromNative Americans' relationships with birds;Margaret Humphries, who will talk aboutdisease and Southern history; Donald Davis,who will discuss the AppalachianMountains; Tlmothy Silver, who will sketch

ideas on the Civil War and its impact onthe environment; and Paul Sutter, who willgive a case study of conservation and itsironic meanings in the case of one Georgiastate park.Ted Steinberg, historian at Case Western

Reserve University, will give a finalcommentary at the symposium. The authorof Down to Earth: Nature's Role in AmericanHistory and Acts of God: The UnnaturalHistory of Natural Disaster in America,Steinberg promises to put the South's storyin national perspective.For more information, e-mail Charles

Reagan Wilson at [email protected] orvisit the history symposium website atwww.olemiss.edu/depts/history/symposium.

Tennessee Williams Tribute & Tour of Victorian HomesSeptember 11-14,2003

Columbus, Mississippi

roiumbll~~~~

Birthplace of poet, author, and playwright Tennessee Williamsplays • parties ........

book signings & scholarly papers • photo exhibits & mOVi~ ~

For more information, call fiJIStreetcar Productions 662-240-1832 #',. ~Tennessee Williams Welcome Center ~t~·"'::

662-328-0222 or Columbus Convention and ~ /'Visitors Bureau 1-800-327-2686

www.columbus-ms.org

Page 8 Spring/Summer 2003 The Southern Register

Page 9: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

PORTER L. FORTUNE JR.HISTORY SYMPOSIUM

THEENVIRONMENTAND SOUTHERN

HISTORY

SEPTEMBER 17~19, 2003

Wednesday Evening,September 17

KeynoteJack Temple Kirby, Miami of Ohio

Thursday, September 18A New Look at the Southern ClimateMart Stewart, Western Washington

University

American Indians and Birds in theSouth: An Environmental HistoryShepard Krech, Brown University

An Environmental History of theAppalachians

Donald Davis, Dalton State College

Disease and Environment in SouthernHistory

Margaret Humphries, Duke University

Friday, September 19The Civil War and the Southern

EnvironmentTimothy Silver, Appalachian State

University

'Georgia's Little Grand CanyonPaul Sutter, University of Georgia

CommentaryTed Steinberg, Case Western Reserve

University

Mississippi Delta TennesseeWilliams Festival

The 11th annual Mississippi DeltaTennessee Williams Festival, set forOctober 9-11, 2003 in Clarksdale,continues the celebration of America'sgreat playwright in his childhood home.The focus of this year's program will betwo ofWilliams's one-act plays, 27WagonsFull of Cotton and The UnsatisfactoryDinner, and the film Baby Doll.The festival will feature performances

and readings by Blue Roses Productionsof New York City, a screening of themovie Baby Doll, presentations byWilliams authorities and friends, a sessionwith papers by scholars, porch plays, andgourmet dinners in the historic Williamsneighborhood and Uncle Henry's Placeon Moon Lake. Also scheduled inconjunction with the festival areworkshops for teachers and for studentactors and a drama competition, withprizes totaling $4,000 for the winners.Actress Carroll Baker, who was

nominated for an Academy Award forher role as Baby Doll, has been invited toshare her reminiscences, and Delta bluesmusicians will be performing theplaywright's songs, Blue Mountain Ballads.Opening the festival in the renovated

downtown passenger depot, ClarksdaleStation, will be Kenneth Holditch ofNew Orleans with "Tennessee Delta:Cotton, Rising Tides, and Blues."Following this presentation will be anoptional field trip down U.S. 1, thefamous River Road, through Sherard,Gunnison, Perthshire, and Rosedale, tothe Burris Mansion in Benoit where BabyDoll was filmed.Speakers will be introduced at a

reception and dinner Thursday night atthe vintage Belle Clark Mansion, restoredantebellum home of Clarksdale founderJohn Clark.Among the speakers and panelists are

theatre directors and drama professionalsRobert C~non of Sardis, Erma Durickowith her company from New York, JayJensen of Miami and scholars ColbyKullman of the University of Mississippi,Henry Outlaw and William Spencer ofDelta State University, and Ralph F. Vossof the University of Alabama. Actressand director Erma Duricko will perform.She and drama coach Jay Jensen also willconduct an acting workshop for highschool students. Williams's brother,Dakin, will give his annual poetry readingand commentary.Scholars are invited to submit papers

for possible presentation at the festival.Papers on any topic related to Williams

and his work are eligible forconsideration. Presentations should be20 minutes maximum. Authors whosepapers are selected for presentation willreceive free lodging during the festivaland a waiver of the registration fee. Thedeadline for submissions is August 30,2003. To enter, send a completed paper(7-8 pages) or an abstract (250 words) toColby H. Kullman, Department ofEnglish, The University of Mississippi,University, MS 38677.The Tennessee Williams Festival

Acting Competition, hosted by CoahomaCommunity College, is open to highschool students in Mississippi. Thecompetition includes two actingcategories, monologues and scenes. Allmaterial must be drawn from the plays ofTennessee Williams. Each monologue is tobe two minutes or less,and each scene is tobe between five and ten minutes andinvolve any number of characters.Cash prizes are given for winning

monologues and scenes, which will beperformed for the festival audience. Prizemoney will go to schools of the winnersfor use with drama activities or librarybooks related to theater and literature.Students, with their teacher-sponsors,will be given the opportunity to decidehow the prize money will be spent.For information on the 2003 festival

and drama competition, write TennesseeWilliams Festival, Clarksdale/CoahomaCounty Chamber of Commerce, P.O.Box 1565, Clarksdale, MS 38614-1565;telephone 662-627-7337.

The Southern Register Spring/Summer 2003 Page 9

Page 10: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

Northeast Mississippi

Although Mississippi was the nursery of Elvis,music scholars and collectors have paid littleattention to northeast portion of the state. Bluesenthusiasts tend to focus on the Mississippi Delta.Those in search of country music examineTennessee and other parts of the Upper South.The Traditional Music Project aimed to help

rectify the neglect of the area and identify anddocument some of the musical traditions found inthat corner of Mississippi bordered on the west byOxford and to the south by Aberdeen. One resultwill be to make a database of artists, venues, andpromoters accessible to those interested in themusic of the area.The project also produced a series of music and "'

narrative programs at the Lafayette County and ~Oxford Public Library, after which several of the Imusicians appeared on Thacker Mountain Radio, Ibroadcast live from Off Square Books near the Itown square. The university community, whichwas our main audience, and the performers whocame to town, perhaps not surprisingly, know verylittle of each other. The exposure was beneficial forboth groups.Early on, I feared that what Alan Lomax called

"cultural grey out" had diminished the differences among music types and performers. But I am happy to reportthat any musical homogeneity I sensed was only because I wasn't getting out and listening. If one considerstraditional music something that connects generations within and among families and unites communitiesthrough the expression of distinct tastes and local talents, then I can say that traditional music is doing fairly wellin Northeast Mississippi.The project identified a number of traditions that indicate the vitality of musical activity in the area. In the

services of the charismatic Church of the Living God, musicians employ a pedal steel, once known as a Hawaiianguitar, for a unique sound. The pedal steel is a familiar instrument to white country music fans, although theChurch of the Living God is majority African American.Live broadcasts on radio and television, once a mainstay of country and gospel music, still have an important

place in the region. Groups like Oxford's Mighty Stars of Harmony, Winona's Forrest Brothers, Tupelo's SpiritualTruelights, to only name three, enjoy wide followings among African American gospel listeners. The HatchieBottom Boys of Corinth are immediately recognizable to bluegrass fans in the area, and live radio shows anddozens of personal appearances make Bud and Hazel Huddleston celebrated figures in the country north of Tupelo.And most Mississippians recognize Tupelo's Kay Bain, who hosts a steady stream of old bands and young hopefulsin the music segment of WTV A's morning show.Northeast Mississippi also supports small music halls and oprys that feature local musicians playing country or

gospel. The music halls bring live music typically in an alcohol-free, "family" atmosphere to small but loyalcrowds. The white and African American communities support a large number of gospel groups that perform inchurches, community centers, and other public venues through the area. Local music festivals often includegospel, bluegrass, country, or a combination, and most of the towns support some type of annual event. Thegrowing Hispanic community has brought new musical traditions that are just beginning to appear at parties andclubs in the area.

Wiley Prewitt, director of the Northeast MississippiTraditional Music Project, teUs about his workdocumenting music traditions in an often-overlookedpart of the state. The Center and the MississiPPi ArtsCommission collaborated on the project, which wassupported by funding from the National Endowmentfor the Arts' Folk and Traditional Arts Initiativeprogram. For a fun report, visit www.arts.state.ms.us/.

Page 10 Spring/Summer 2003 The Southern Register

Page 11: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

Traditional Music Projectphotos by Wiley Prewitt

The Southern Register Spring/Summer 2003 Page 11

Page 12: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

Living BluesHosts

First BluesSymposium

Blues enthusiasts from around the globe gathered at the Universityof Mississippi, home of Living Blues, on February 21-22 to take part in"The Blues Today: A Living Blues Symposium." The symposiumincorporated a number of special events, each of which offered uniqueperspectives on the genre and attested to the depth and breadth ofblues and its extraordinary influences on American culture. Notedauthor, jazz scholar, and critic Stanley Crouch delivered the EarlyWright memorial keynote address.The most emphatic declaration of the blues' vitality was made on

stage by three of the genre's essential contemporary performers: BobbyRush, Little Milton, and Willie King. Each played a set at an Oxfordclub-Little Milton's was his first performance in the city since heplayed at an all-white Ole Miss fraternity house before the University'sintegration 40 years ago. Jackson, Mississippi, attorney, club-owner,and patron of the blues, Isaac K. Byrd Jr., sponsored the concert.A panel discussion the following day devoted to "Blues Music

Today," moderated by Living Blues cofounder Jim O'Neal, covered therange of musical perspectives from Little Milton, to King's downhome"struggling blues," and the glamorous soul blues of Bobby Rush. Alsoparticipating was Memphis-based blues retailer Malcolm Anthony andblues scholar Lea Gilmore. (Gilmore's 2002 Keeping the Blues AliveAward-winning Web site devoted to women in blues history can beviewed at: www.p-dub.com/thang.) Discussion centered on a numberof important topics on the current blues scene, such as the negativeconnotations blues stirs in some minds and the epidemic of bootlegrecordings.One such subject is the definition of blues, particularly as it

influences the perspective of the audience and the repertoire of theperformer. Bobby Rush recalled that he was "booed in Amsterdam.They were told I was a black guy who sang blues, so they expect me tosound like Muddy Waters," he said. Little Milton concurred: "To playblues doesn't mean you have to be illiterate, or drunk, or heartbrokenall of the time," he said.

Malcolm Anthony added that misconceptions about blues resultfrom the fact that "blues has always been the music of the blackcommunity. Today's black audience listens to soul blues but is accusedof not supporting blues, because some people don't think that soulblues is authentic or traditional. Some people want to think blues isjust some old guy strumming on a porch, but it's evolved from that, andsoul blues is that evolution of blues in the black community," he said.The significant role of blues in American literature was explored in

the panel "Blues Aesthetics in American Culture," moderated byAdam Gussow, professor of English and Southern Studies at Ole Missand the harmonica playing half of the duo Satan and Adam.

~ University of Alabama professor Anthony Bolden, Ursinus College;, professor Patricia Schroeder, University of Wisconsin professor Craig,.~ continued on page ~

Page 13: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

Readin

./'

Book Reviews and Notes by Faculty, Staff,Students, and Friends of the Center forthe Study of Southern Culture

Pa<the" and oth« boob call 800-648-4001 a<fox 601-214-9630.~~I160 Courthouse Square. Oxford, Mississippi 38655 8'3 KS

Louisiana: An Illustrated History. By C. E. Richard. BatonRouge: Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana PublicBroadcasting, 2003. 224 pages, 300 illustrations. $45.00cloth.

When Napoleon Bonaparte, having concluded that Louisianaas the center of a French Empire in the Americas was untenable,decided to sell his vast territory to the United States, theresulting Louisiana Purchase produced a profound and dramaticchange in the development of the young republic. The Purchasegave the U.S. possession and control of the Mississippi River anddoubled the land area of the nation, adding territory thatstretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes andwestward to the Rocky Mountains, a huge area that includedwhat was to become all or part of 13 states, including Louisiana,which gained statehood in 1812.To celebrate the bicentennial observance of the Louisiana

Purchase, the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana PublicBroadcasting has published Louisiana: An Illustrated History, anextraordinarily handsome volume written by C. E. Richard,author of screenplays and other works on the state's history andculture. The book is intended as a companion piece to Louisiana:A History, a six-hour documentary to be presented in Septemberof this year.The book traces the history of Louisiana from its founding and

earliest settlements as first a French, then Spanish, colony to itsacquisition by the U.S. as part of the Purchase, and to its mostrecent past, a period of just over 300 years. The text providesinformative and enjoyable reading, confronts boldly the state's

the Southunsavory episodes, its often eccentric and sometimes bizarrepolitics and politicians, and gives full treatment to the richcultural mixture that characterizes Louisiana. However, thebook's most notable achievement is found in its stunninglybeautiful illustrations, many in color, drawn from artwork,photographs, and various historical documents. As such, it is avaluable collector's item for those with an appreciation for thehistory of Louisiana and the Mississippi Valley, and, indeed, theUnited States.

A Portion of the People: Three Hundred Years of SauthemJewish Life. Edited by Theodore Rosengarten and DaleRosengarten. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press,2002. 288 pages, 86 color plates, 74 halftones. $34.95 cloth.

In this monumentaleffort, Dale and TheodoreRosengarten have createda beautiful companionbook in concert withthe exhibition at theMcKissickMuseum housedat the University of SouthCarolina. Independently,this book is a much-needed addition to thescholarship on AmericanJews and particularly Jewsin the South. Though the

exhibition emphasizes 300 years of Southern Jewish lifespecifically in South Carolina, heirlooms, artifacts, paintings,ephemera, and photographs are, as Eli Evans proclaims in thepreface, "a public celebration of southern Jewish history, withbold assertions of the vital role played by Jews" (xvi).Through a series of brief, informative chapters accompanied

by photographs of artifacts, the Rosengartens introduce readersto the broad scope of Jewish experience in the South. Topicsinclude the immigration experience, home and family life, theworking lives of men and women, courting and marital rituals,the rise of communities, Jewish men and women's involvementin the Civil War, their participation in World War I, and thepost-Holocaust Southern Jewish experience. Allowing materialculture to reveal historical experience, the collection of artifactsthat Dale Rosengarten and others have uncovered beautifullyunderscores the rich complexity of the South Carolina Jewishexperience.Creating a companion to such a broad exhibit would have

been plenty, yet the Rosengartens include a marvelous photo

Page 14: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

Reading the South continued

essay by Bill Aron that surveyscontemporary Southern and Jewishidentities. Included are images that areboth familiar and remarkable. Pictures ofthree generations of Southern Jewishhunters, a Jewish-owned pigeon plant, andAfrican American Jews are fascinating(though not surprising, as they testify tosuccessful Jewish and Southernacculturation). Other of Aron'sphotographs show synagogues, cemeteries,holiday meal preparation, prayer, a Mah-jongg game, and family activities.In addition to the photo essay, the

Rosengartens include essays by prominentJewish scholars that further illuminate theSouthern Jewish experience. In his preface,Eli Evans provides a brief history of Jewsin South Carolina, while TheodoreRosengarten confronts the difficult andcomplex relationship of Jews and enslavedAfrican Americans, agreeing with scholarBertram Wallace Korn that Jews observedthe "dominant morality of the time"( 4).The remaining essays, by Deborah DashMoore, Jenna Weissman Joselit, and JackBass, focus on the theme of freedom.Deborah Dash Moore's essay explores

the Americanization of OrthodoxJ~daism-specifically how Southern Jewsrevamped their Judaism in response toreigning political, social, and economicsystems and ideologies. Moore situateschanges in American Judaism squarelywithin the events of the time and, inparticular, within Denmark Vesey's slaverebellion. In the midst of growing chaos,Jews saw their place in Southern society asincreasingly unstable and therefore shapedReform Judaism to mirror acceptableChristian customs to secure their ownplace and freedom in Southern society.Jenna Weisman Joselit's essay addresses

the migration of Jews from Eastern Europe,concentrating on their reasons forchoosing a virtual frontier over theestablished cities of the northeast. Theessay shows that Eastern Europeanimmigrants had different experiences fromtheir predecessors, working as peddlers,shopkeepers, and scrap-metal dealersinstead of inserting themselves intothe plantation economy. Joselit alsodemonstrates the splits that developedbetween earlier and later Jewish migrationsand how they impacted South CarolinaJewry.Jack Bass, a native South Carolinian,

explores Jewish participation in civic lifethroughout the state's history, noting that

Jews had been prominently involved inpublic and private organizations from thecolony's inception. Bass juxtaposes Jewishparticipation in public life with existentanti-Semitism in the state and reveals thatin their response to civil rights SouthernJews both accommodated and subvertedJim Crow in public and private acts.Theodore Rosengarten claims that the

exhibition and the accompanying book areto dispel myths about Southern Jews. Aseditors, Dale and Theodore Rosengartenhave accomplished much more. They haveintroduced Jews and non-Jews alike to avibrant Southern Jewish culture. Topics,issues, and the Jewish histories andidentities uncovered and addressed byscholars and amassed material artifacts areby no means comprehensive nor arethey meant to be. This book introducesreaders and exhibition viewers to SouthernJewish history, illuminates the SouthernJewish experience, and inspires furtherinvestigation.

JENNIFER A. STOLLMAN

Mordecai: An Early American Family.By Emily Bingham. New York: Hill andWang, 2003. 346 pages. $26.00 cloth.

Lately, the field of American SouthernJewish history has experienced arenaissance. Beginning in the seventies,scholars researched the history,demographics, religiosity, immigration,and acculturation experiences of Jews fromall over the South. Despite an intenseinitial investigation, Southern Jewishhistorical studies stagnated over the nexttwo decades. A resurgence in the interestof ethnic studies within the South, a desireto broaden the black/white paradigm thathas framed much of the scholarship on theregion, and a discovery of new sourceshave encouraged a renewed interest inSouthern Jewry. Most students of SouthernJewry, like their Northern counterparts,have framed their investigations aroundanti-Semitism and assimilation. While thisis a good way to uncover the Jewishexperience in the South, recent scholarshave discovered that, at times, thisapproach tends to marginalize SouthernJews from other Southerners.Perhaps a statement on increased

American tolerance, Emily Bingham'sMordecai: An Early American Family is notburdened with the politicized discourses

often found in American Jewish historicalnarratives. Unlike earlier scholars,Bingham does not feel obligated to providea litany of the worthy contributions theMordecai family made to Southern society.Nor does she actively create a triumphalistnarrative, in which the Mordecaisovercame opposition, anti-Semitism, andmarginalization to gain acceptance bywhite Protestant Southerners. In fact,Bingham's work assumes a priori that theMordecais were Southerners and supportsrecent conclusions that a single AmericanSouthern Jewish experience does not exist.Bingham trusts her sources, and herbalanced story effectively chronicles thepublic and private lives of a SouthernJewish family affected by the changingevents and ideologies of the Revolutionary,early Republic, and Civil War eras. To tiethe members of the Mordecai clantogether, Bingham invents the secular andreligious framework of "enlighteneddomesticity" in which the family "seizedupon a protective covenant fusingbourgeois domesticity, intellectualcultivation, and religious liberalism" (5).According to Bingham, this philosophyshaped individual family members' worldviews, personal decisions, and approachesto religion and education.Fulfilling the project of enlightened

domesticity proved to be a difficult taskduring the first half of the 19th century. Inmany ways, its concerted emphasis onreason encouraged the questioning oftraditional family values. Additionally,increased focus on education, Christianity,gender norms, sentimental love, notions ofSouthern white middle-class respectability,individualism, and appropriate sexualitycreated conflicts between notions ofrespectability among the generations.Consequently, many Mordecais chafed atfulfilling family expectations of domesticenlightenment while carving lives thatwere personally and publicly satisfying.Most of the Mordecai family members

had few problems as children fulfilling theprecepts of enlightened domesticity, but asthey approached adulthood, most rejectedtheir father's and grandfather's notions ofrespectability. Most of the Mordecai menfavored newly developed forms ofindividualism and pursued their public andprivate goals while barely consulting theirfathers and rarely considering the family.Many were successful in trade, law,medicine, and the military. Most did notmarry Jews. Because of coverture laws and

Page 15: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

reigning gender philosophies of the day,the Mordecai women had less freedom tomake their choices, but they still exercisedtheir own agency. For example, RachelMordecai Lazarus, always the dutifuldaughter, assisted her father in theacademy he founded and helped schoolseveral family members, yet converted toChristianity on her deathbed after years ofwrestling with her faith. Ellen Mordecai,paled in Rachel's shadow, also assistedwith the domestic upkeep of family homes,farm, and schools, yet converted andmaintained a rather successful living bypublishing her conversion experiences.Caroline Mordecai Plunkett fell into adeep depression abiding by her father'srefusal to accept a suitor, yet ultimatelymarried Achilles Plunkett, a non-Jew.Only one daughter, Emma, remainedfaithful to Judaism. The third generationproved to be even more interesting. RachelMordecai Lazarus's son, Marx EdgeworthMordecai, led a rather unorthodox life ashe actively promoted the free lovemovement. His sister, Ellen Lazarus,became a radicalized feminist and wasintent on becoming a physician ofalternative therapies.Emily Bingham has accomplished

something truly amazing. To create such adescriptive composite of the Mordecaifamily, she examined thousands of 18th-and 19th-century diaries, letters, journals,business logs, and other ephemera. Thisresearch was difficult, time-consuming,and laboriou·s. Employing an evocativewriting style, Bingham created a work thatrepresents the best of family biography,one in which readers may access theconnections between the generations togain a clearer understanding of the early19th-century Southern experience.Problems within Bingham's work reflect

the genre's shortcomings and are not thefault of the author. While framing anentire history around anti-Semitism islimiting, the sources Bingham used suggestthat anti-Semitism was virtuallynonexistent. Elsewhere, scholars ofSouthern Jewry have argued that anti-Semitism existed in the 19th-centurySouth in social relations and discourse,trading practices, and politics. Bingham'ssources hint at the existence ofanti-Semitism but fail to fully fleshout or respond to this anti-Semitism.Enlightened domesticity emphasizesretreat into the home, domestic Judaism,and overcoming perceived shortcomingsof the family. The question begs, "What isthe family steeling themselves against?"

Additionally, biography privilegeshistorical voices and sacrifices overarchingcontext. Contextualizing the Mordecais'experiences within larger 19th-centurysocial, economic, and political systemswould facilitate a more comprehensiveunderstanding of the Mordecais asSoutherners and Jews. Bingham seeminglyanticipates this though, as she provides anextensive bibliographic essay at the end ofthe book. The essay is divided by topics,making it easy for interested readers toconsult suggested readings.The shortcomings mentioned are

minor, and Mordecai: An Early AmericanFamily is a compelling read to all scholarsand those interested in a wide range of19th-century topics, beyond just SouthernJewry. Those less interested in thingsacademic will also enjoy the biography as afirst-rate family saga that details the trialsand tribulations of one AmericanSouthern family.

JENNIFER A. STOLLMAN

The Undiscovered Country: The LaterPlays of Tennessee Williams. Edited byPhilip C. Kolin. New York: Peter Lang,2002. 223 pages. $32.95 paper.

EDITED BY PHIUP C. KOLIN

TheUndiscoveredTlm LATER PLAy~ount1)1

Of!'ThNNESSEEWILLIAMS

alternative title was not "gracious younglady" (as he translated the German phrase)but rather Slapstick Tragedy.Amused and confused by the blend of

vaudeville with Sophoclean drama, theaudience appreciated the rare opportunityoffered by director Michele Cuomo andthe University's Theatre Arts students.The playwright died in 1983; but, as thewell-known Williams scholar Philip C.Kolin emphasizes at the start of his newessay collection: "The post-Night of theIguana (1961) canon still remains largelyundiscovered country, elusively difficult toedit, classify, and interpret" (1). Until veryrecently, critics and producers alike haveavoided these unconventional works. Andin "The Gnadiges Fraulein: TennesseeWilliams's Clown Show," Allean Haleobserves that this play is "perhaps the mostunusual and most difficult" of Williams'smany later dramas (40).A striking pair of illustrations

accompanies Hale's essay: a photo of thebloodied, blinded title character in aUniversity of Illinois production,juxtaposed with a painting by Williamstitled Self-portrait as Clown. Both figureshave wild wigs, bold lips, and paintedtears. In the sacred clown tradition familiarto Williams, says Hale, white makeup is adeath symbol. She concludes that the playis not absurdist (as critics have suggested)but existentialist: "It reminds us of Brecht'sMother Courage, eternally pulling herwagon, or Camus's Sisyphus, daily pushinghis rock up the hill even though he knowsit will roll down again. 'En avant!' wasWilliams' battle cry" (52)."En avant!" could be the cry of the 15

contributors who explore the undiscoveredcountry in Kolin's volume. These essaysare original in both senses: never beforepublished, and highly imaginative as well.Illuminating Williams's obscurity, essayistsdevelop many contexts for the plays,including theology (Kolin on Small CraftWarnings); the Gnostic politics of space(Robert F. Gross on The Red Devil BatterySign); Japanese No theatre (Michael Palleron The Milk Train Doesn't Stop HereAnymore); and a postmodern "resurgentromanticism" (Norma Jenckes on CaminoReal and Clothes for a Summer Hotel).Una Chaudhuri takes a particularly

unusual approach in '''AWK!': Extremity,Animality, and the Aesthetic ofAwkwardness in Tennessee Williams's TheGnadiges Fraulein." Alert to the cries of

With unnerving dialogue, exaggeratedmake-up, and stylized gestures, actors fromthe University of Mississippi stagedTennessee Williams's The GnadigesFraulein at the 2002 Oxford Conferencefor the Book. Viewers who came expectinganother Glass Menagerie-or even anotherCat on a Hot Tin Roof or Streetcar NamedDesire-quickly learned why Williams's

continued on page 16

The Southern Register Page 15Spring/Summer 2003

Page 16: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

UNIVERSITY PRESS OF MISSISSIPPI [email protected] member of the Association of American University Presses

Appalachian LivesBy SHELBY LEE ADAMSINTRODUCTION BY VICKI GOLDBERG"The complicated and ambiguouspictures in this book are an uncom-mon blend of humanity, reportage,and art' -Vicki Goldberg, author ofThePower of Photography: HowPhotographs Changed Our LivesS50 hardcover

Mardi Gras, Gumbo,and ZydecoReadings in Louisiana CultureEDITED BY MARCIA GAUDET ANDJAMES C. McDONALDAn anthology of writings that definesouthern Louisiana'sdiverse cultureS48 unjacketed hardcover,S18 softcover

The CajunsAmericanization of a PeopleBy SHANE K. BERNARDSixty years of Cajun history showinghow the Cajuns have become muchlike other Americans while maintain-ing their strikingly distinct identityS48 unjacketed hardcover,S18 softcover

ChitaA lfemoTy of Lost IslandBy LAFCADIO HEARNEDITED BY DELIA LABARREWITH AN INTRODUCTION BYJEFFERSON HUMPHRIESA lush, evocative novel about a mys-terious girl who survives a devastatinghurricane in old LouisianaS20 hardcover

Some Notes onRiver CountryBy EUDORA WELTYIn prose and photography, Welty's medi-tation on her inspiring encounter with anenduring landscapeS25 hardcover,Sl00 limited ed'ltion hardcover

Faulkner and WarEDITED BY NOEL POLK ANDANN J. ABADIEA critical exploration of the effects andinfluence of America's wars upon theworks of the Nobel Prize laureateS45 hardcover

Robert G. Clark's Journeyto the HouseA Black Politician's StOTyBy WILL D. CAMPBELLThe story of a black man's unprecedent-ed rise to power and political prominencein the formerly segregationist state ofMississippiS22 hardcover

Sonny MontgomeryThe Veteran's ChampionBy G. V "SONNY" MONTGOMERYWITH MICHAEL B. BALLARD ANDCRAIG S. PIPERThe autobiography of the MississippiCongressman who spearheaded the drivefor the revamped G. I. BillS25 hardcover

MississippiA DocumentaTy HistOTyEDITED BY BRADLEY G. BONDThe unfolding story of the MagnoliaState as told in a striking collection ofits historical documentsS45 hardcover

Find in bookstores, or order from the publisher online at www.upress.state.ms.usor by phone at 1-800-737-7788.

Keadlng the ;::'outh contmued

Williams's grotesque cocaloony bird,Chaudhuri proposes that the theory of"the animalizing imagination" is "one ofthe more progressive and promisingresources of postmodernism" (60). Thedifficulty of Chaudhuri's critical language(though often playful) mirrors the playfuldifficulty of the drama itself; but herconclusion is straightforward and muchlike Allean Hale's. "The slapstick tragedy,"says Chaudhuri, "ends not with death ordefeat but with perseverance. Thoughblood-soaked and blinded, the Frauleinkeeps flapping her skinny arms like wings,awkwardly perfonning the awkwardness ofsurvival on 'this risky planet'" (65).

The Gniidiges Friiulein is also a centraltext for Annette J. Saddik in "'TheInexpressible Regret of All Her Regrets':Tennessee Williams's Later Plays asArtaudian Theater of Cruelty." Author ofThe Politics of Reputation: The CriticalReception of Tennessee Williams's Late Plays(1999), Saddik compares the play toKingdom of Earth, Now the Cats withJewelled Claws, and This Is the PeaceableKingdom-all of which reflect AntoninArtaud's stress on "ideological elements ofthe presentation of ritualistic spectacle, amoral reversal in the primacy of natureover culture, and a revelation of inevitablemetaphysical cruelty" (22-23).Gene D. Phillips, S.J., discusses one of

these plays, Kingdom of Earth, in"Tennessee Williams's Forgotten Film: TheLast of the Mobile Hot-Shots as a ScreenVersion of The Seven Descents of Myrtle."Broadway producer David Merrickconvinced Williams to change the titleKingdom of Earth to Seven Descents ofMyrtle, a work that is not "front rank,"according to Phillips, yet nonethelessdeserving of study, as is the movie version.Phillips spoke with Williams at the 1976Cannes International Film Festival, andhe records the playwright's insistence thatthe drama is a comedy, a fact that is notalways stressed in productions. In livelydetail, the essayis·t demonstrates thatSidney Lumet's screen version had its ownset of problems, including British actressLynn Redgrave's struggle with Southernintonation.Like Phillips, several other contributors

to The Undiscovered Country makeexcellent use of biographical material,offsetting the "antagonistic biographicalcriticism" that Kolin outlines in hisintroduction 0-2). Especially intriguing isTerri Smith Ruckel's exploration of the"painterly texture" of In the Bar of a TokyoHotel in light of Williams's dozens of

Page 17: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

artworks (his oil painting Many MoonsAgo is reproduced in the essay). JamesFisher presents Something Cloudy,Something Clear as "both a triumph ofautobiographical confession and aculmination of prevalent themes inWilliams's plays" (194). In an outstandingstudy of A House Not Meant to Stand: AGothic Comedy, Thomas Keith comparesthis 1982 drama to other late works thatreveal "the rigors and fears Williamsfaced-physical, mental, and emotional-during the last ten years of his life andcareer" (207). Similarly, Felicia HardisonLondre relates the themes of The Two-Character Play and Out Cry to Williams'sfear of confinement (bodily and artisticconfinement, but also the dread of beingtrapped in any single role or identity).Robert Bray suggests that, in Vieux

Carre-despite Williams's "genius forexperimentation" (142 )-the playwrightdid not fully escape the trap of his own earlysuccesses. Theatre critics at the 1977premiere accused him of recycling charactertypes and places for which he had becomefamous, and Bray acknowledges thatWilliams set dozens of works in NewOrleans. "None, however," the criticemphasizes, "is more atmosphericallycharged with French Quarter charm anddecadence than the play that bears itsname" (147). Moreover, the city'suniqueness "provided Williams with anentirely new sense of 'local color'" (148).Like Bray,Verna Foster and George W.

Crandell carefully distinguish apparentrepetition from new developments in thelate works. Quoting Williams's commentthat A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur is"almost a different genre," Foster sums upthe difference as a blend of the early"psychological realism" with the late"grotesque style" (155). Comparingthe 1978 play with a versionfrom the late 1950s, she sees definiteadvances in Williams's dramaturgy andcharacterization.Crandell examines Williams's changing

treatment of time and memory, withspecial attention to Clothes for a SummerHotel, a little-known play with well-known characters: Scott and ZeldaFitzgerald. "More than its latercounterparts," says Crandell, thisDantesque work "dramatizes somethingunique in the Williams canon: a lack offaith in the future to transform the present"(170). In Zelda's asylum setting,"performance" is the single therapy thatmight "mitigate the effects of exile from

wholeness" (177); and, whether inlife or in drama, Crandell concludes,performance is also "the only stay againstthe 'enemy' time" (178).The tragic vision of Clothes for a

Summer Hotel is far from the slapsticktragedy of The Gnadiges Fraulein or thelusty humor of The Seven Descents ofMyrtle. As Philip Kolin suggests in hisintroduction to The Undiscovered Country,"Not even the convoluted classificationsystem of Polonius-'pastoral, comical,historical pastoral, tragical-historical,tragical-comical- historical-pastoral'-cando justice to the highly experimental playsof Williams's last three decades" (3). ForHamlet, who killed the foolish Polonius,death itself was "the undiscoveredcountry," from which no traveler returns.In his final years, however, TennesseeWilliams was able to work that miracle. "Ghosts, in one form or another, are arecurring element in five of Williams'slater plays" (211), notes Thomas Keith.Williams never stayed in one place forlong.

JOAN WYLIE HALL

Sodom Laurel Album. Photographs,oral histories, and text by Rob Amberg.167 pages, 136 photographs, audio CD.Chapel Hill: University of NorthCarolina Press (in association with theCenter for Documentary Studies), 2002.$45.00 cloth.

Rob Amberg came to the NorthCarolina mountains in 1973, a 26-year-old refugee from the suburbs ofWashington, D.C. By his own admission,he arrived with stars in his eyes, afflictedby nostalgia for a past he'd never had anda place he'd never known. He worked at

various jobs in the area for a couple ofyears, then found a position as a part-timephotography instructor and archivist atMars Hill College, not far from Asheville.One afternoon, a student took him tomeet her 77-year-old great-aunt, DellieNorton, a traditional Appalachian singerwho had gained a modest degree ofrecognition during the folk revival of the1960s and owner of a small mountain farmnear the tiny community of Sodom Laurel.Ms. Norton and Amberg got along well,and before long he was staying in herspare bedroom and helping with the farmchores. He was also making a lot ofpictures. Though he didn't know it at thetime, he had started on a project thatwould take 27 years to complete.Sodom Laurel Album is a good book. It

succeeds quite nicely at much of whatdocumentary photography does well.Amberg's photographs tell us a lot, mostof it well worth knowing, about peoplewhose lives are unlike our own. Hispictures make us privy to many of the factsof life in Sodom Laurel-the difficulttopography its residents contend withevery day, the houses they live in, thework they do, and the relationships theyform-in ways that neither threaten,belittle, nor stereotype those facts. That'sno small accomplishment. Nor is therereason to doubt Amberg's sensitivity andsincerity. He became deeply involvedwith the Sodom Laurel community overthe years, living and working there forvarious periods of time, and thisinvolvement shows in the easy familiarityof his pictures. None of the images seemsintrusive or stolen, and even though someof the photographs are posed (portraits forthe most part), none feels artificial. It'sevident in his pictures that he has a deepand abiding regard for many of the peoplehe came to know in Sodom Laurel.Amberg's photographs didn't come by

this relaxed, open quality easily. In thepreface to Sodom Laurel Album, he showsthat he's thought long and hard enoughabout documentary photography tounderstand some of its shortcomings,especially the dangers posed bystereotypes-both building upon already-existing stereotypes and helping to createnew ones-and photography's inherentsuperficiality. The way in which the book'spictures and texts (some of the words areAmberg's, others are passages fromrecorded oral histories he conducted with

continued on page 18

The Southern Register Spring/Summer 2003 Page 17

Page 18: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

Reading the South continued

Sodom Laurel residents) supplement oneanother is proof of intelligent engagementwith these issues. Sodom Laurel Albumavoids stereotypes by sometimes surprisingus and occasionally even allowing imageand text to contradict one another, and itachieves greater depth than manyphotographic documentaries by allowingwords and pictures to work together inpartnership rather than having one or theother dominate. Amberg also writes abouthow his understanding of the project grewover the years, making a slow evolutionfrom "objective" documentary studyto more subjective personal narrative.Here, too, Sodom Laurel Album providesmore food for thought than manydocumentaries.All these nice things said (and meant),

there's still something that bothers meabout Sodom Laurel Album. I had hoped todismiss it as a mere quibble, but it seemsto be demanding more attention thanthat. Essentially, my complaint is that thebook seems all too much like what it saysit is-an album. We learn a lot aboutvarious aspects of life in and aroundSodom Laurel, but not much about thecommunity's center-whatever it is thatholds the place and its people together.It's difficult to say, in any specific sense,what the book's about. Parts of it aredevoted to the life of Dellie Norton, herextended family, and her small mountainfarm. Other segments focus on heradopted disabled son Junior (actually amuch younger cousin whose parents"gave" him to Dellie when he was small);area musicians and their travels tofestivals in "foreign" places (the price ofpurchase includes an audio CD made bymusicians with ties to the community);Sodom Laurel's younger generation(s);public social events (family reunions,cemetery clean-ups, and the like); andtobacco agriculture. This last seems onlytangentially related to Sodom Laurel.Although a few of the tobacco picturesare from Dellie Norton's farm (taken inthe mid-I970s, early on in Amberg'sproject), most come from different timesand places, some of them, apparently, notall that close to Sodom Laurel. Mycomplaint is not, however, that Ambergcasts his net too wide; instead, it's that hehasn't made (or allowed) these disparategroups of very fine pictures to hangtogether, to cohere, as well as they should(and surely could). Perhaps the fact thatthe photographs were all made by thesame person in more or less the same

place is focal point enough, but thatplaces the center of attention on Ambergand his pictures rather than on theirsubjects. Judging from the self-effacingway he's photographed and written aboutthe people of Sodom Laurel, I don't thinkthat's where he would want the focus tobe.

In the final analysis, though, it's still avery nice book. Anyone interested inrural America, especially the interplaybetween traditional lifestyles andencroaching modernity, should be surenot to miss it.

DAVID WHARTON

Nations Divided: America, Italy, andthe Southern Question. By Don H.Doyle. Georgia Southern UniversityJack N. and Addie D. Averitt LectureSeries Number 10. Athens: Universityof Georgia Press, 2002. 130 pages.$24.95 cloth.

The Southern Question in thisintriguing work of comparative historyconcerns the relationship the nations ofItaly and the United States had with theirsouthern regions. Author of works onsmall places like Lafayette County,Mississippi, and Jacksonville, Illinois, andcities such as Nashville, Don H. Doyle inthis book expands his vision to considertwo questions: what forces have helpedhold together the nations of Italy and theUnited States, and how has the SouthernQuestion been important in the process ofnationhood? This short book, which beganas a series of lectures at Georgia SouthernUniversity, asks big questions about whythese southern regions matter so much indiscussions of national identity.Doyle writes against a tendency among

many current scholars who viewnationalism as a fiction imposed by elitesto try to keep together people who wouldotherwise be in conflict. Frequently,according to Doyle, elites' efforts to createnational unity by appealing to an old,shared history fail. Instead, this bookconcentrates on people's often changingeveryday understandings of nationalidentity in topics such as religion,language, education, holidays, and,significantly, war.The United States emerged without old

calls for primordial ties among people withshared identities based on common

history. Instead, it emerged as a new nationfounded on hope for a future based onrepresentati ve government. Italiannationalism came later, through acomplicated series of military, diplomatic,and political events that did not createtoday's understanding of Italy until 1870.Calls for Italian nationalism came fromvarious sources, some emphasizing pastgreatness in the Roman Empire or theRenaissance, others stressing hopes for aliberal republic, some hoping for somecombination of the two.The Southern Question has differed in

the United States and Italy. In the UnitedStates, of course, the South tried to formits own nation. In recent years in Italy, ithas been the Northern League that calledfor secession from what its members see asthe economically parasitic southernregions of Sicily and Naples. But there arestrong similarities as well. Both Southsseem, in the consciousness of their nations,poor, slow, and strange in both customsand political organization. As Doyle writesof 19th-century Italy, "The idea of acivilized North and a barbaric South tookon important meaning for the way inwhich the former would govern the latter"(71). In the U.S., issues concerning slaveryand free labor became central to broaddemands for American unity based onpolitical rights. The intriguing issue, inboth cases, was how Americans andItalians could unify politically with peoplethey considered different in significantways and whose difference, in fact; helpedsustain some understandings of nationalunity.This book does not answer all of the big

questions it raises. No volume of about100 pages could do so. But by tracing theparallel stories of the American and ItalianSouthern Problem, Doyle's volumeencourages broad thinking about regionalquestions in our global age. He ends with abrief conclusion that contrasts the bitterand violent divisions of contemporaryEurope with the difficulties but also thepromise of the American Civil War:separatism fails, often with bloody results,but inclusive visions of nationalism, nomatter how sloppy, how pragmatic, howintellectually vague in definition,continue to offer great potential. As Doylebegins his final paragraph, "The AmericanUnion that Lincoln struggled to preserveoffered a model of how peoples ofremarkable diversity might learn to livetogether peacefully" (95).

TED OWNBY

Page 18 The Southern RegisterSpring/Summer 2003

Page 19: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

1rlHtE NEW§ILIE1r1F1E1RI OF TlHE SOU1rl'-lIERN FOODWAYS ALLIANCE

SFA Field Trip andSymposuim ExploreApplachian Food

The rich tradition of Appalachianfood is the theme of the third annualSouthern Foodways Alliance FieldTrip, August 1-3, 2003, hosted by theBiltmore Estate in Ashville, NorthCarolina. The itinerary includesa behind-the-scenes tour of BiltmoreEstate's agricultural programs, itsvineyards and winery operations, andits kitchens; a discussion of Southernwines and wineries with a tasting; andtours of local farms and markets.And of course, there's food: a game

dinner at Biltmore, an AppalachianIron Skillet competition sponsoredby the North Carolina SweetPotatoCouncil and Lodge Manufacturing,and one of White Lily's famousbreakfasts. Along the way, you mighteven learn to clog.SFA's Field Trips always sell out early.To register, e-mail Manda Palomaresat [email protected] or phone828-231-9092. Registration is $245for SFA members and $275 for others.A special rate of $13 5 per night has

been arranged at the Inn on theBiltmore Estate. For information andreservations, call 828-231-9092.Programming for the 2003 Southern

Foodways Symposium will alsohighlight Appalachia. Speakersconfirmed at press time include foodwriter Ronni Lundy, journalistRick Bragg, and novelist Lee Smith.Dates are October 2-5, and registrationwill open in July. Check ourWeb site for program details:www.southernfoodways.com.

P'minnuh Cheese:The Pate of the South

The Great PC CompetitionThe Southern Foodways Alliance, the Southeast Dairy Association, and the Web site www.ilovecheese.com are

seeking pimento cheese recipes and recollections. Tell us about how your mother always hand-grated her cheese.Let the world know about how your father's homemade mayonnaise made all the difference. Tell us a story of 100 orso words about what pimento cheese has meant to you and your people. Include a recipe and please detail therecipe's provenance.E-mail submissions to [email protected]. Deadline for entries is July 31. Three finalists will be announced on

August 31. The winner will receive a free trip to the Southern FoodwaysSymposium, to be held October 2-5 in Oxford, Mississippi.But wait, there's more: In addition to receiving a monster jar of pimentos and a -...".

wheel of delicious sharp cheddar cheese, the winner can take pride in knowingthat chef Louis Osteen will feature his or her recipe on the menu at Louis's atPawley's for the month of November. Questions should be directed to theSouthern Foodways Alliance at 662-915-5993.

Pimento cheese, or "P.C.," was born in the South. It's beenfundamental to our bridge luncheons, picnic baskets, kids'lunchboxes, afternoon teas, lunch counter menus, and lightsuppers since at least 1915. You might meet a Southernerwho doesn't care for it, but you'll never meet one who doesn'tknow what it is. The most popular sandwich consumed atthe Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, available for amere $1.25? Of course-pimento cheese on white bread,wrapped, naturally, in green waxed paper.How did this simple spread made of grated cheese and little

red things, usually bound with mayonnaise and perhaps

sparked with an extra spice or two, come to mean so much toso many Southerners? Let's start with the little red things.The pimiento pepper is red, sweet, and heart-shaped. We

know pimientos as olive-stuffers, studders of meat-productloaf, and of course for their partnership with cheese, but itshould be noted that the pimiento is also often used to makepaprika. "Pimiento," Spanish for "pepper," becameAmericanized to "pimento," which is now the most commonspelling. Georgia leads the United States in growth andproduction of the pepper.

continued on page 20

Page 20: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

P'minnuh Cheese: The Pate of the South

Arkansas Wine: Making Do and Doing Well

SFA ContributorsKENDRA MYERS, of Atlanta, Georgia, is a playwright, presently enrolled as a graduate student in Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi.

JEFF SIEGEL, a graduate of the Medill Scholl of Journalism at Northwestern University, has authored six books, and his writing has appeared in SportsIllustrated, Gourmet, and Travel & Leisure.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The moment of harmonious convergence of the humble pimento andsharp cheese remains a mystery, but we do know that already-preparedspread was featured in Southern grocery stores as early as 1915. PomonaProducts Company founder George Reigel of Griffin, Georgia, begancanning Sunshine Pimentos in 1916, making it even easier for homecooks to produce their own versions of it. Some food historians suggestthat pimento cheese was a special treat for families at the turn of the20th century, since sharp cheddar cheese was store-bought and not madeat home. During the 1920s and 1930s, the economical food became evenmore of a staple in the South.P.C. is woven into the fabric of many Southern memories. Most

aficionados agree that only sharp cheese will do, but the glue for thespread varies. Recipes call for mayonnaise or milk or buttermilk or eggsor cottage cheese. Some say not to drain your pimientos and to use thatjuice. Others use lemon or sweet pickle juice. Some really experimentalfolks use cream cheese. But that sounds a little Yankeefied. People putcream cheese on bagels, for God's sake.

In the well-established hierarchy of wine, there are countries andregions, like Burgundy, Bordeaux, Napa and Sonoma, that are famousthroughout the world. Their wine is made from grapes that are equallyfamous-varieties of vitis vinifera, the family that includes CabernetSauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, and other well-known varieties. Sowhere does a winery in Arkansas that uses native American and hybridgrapes fit into things? Quite nicely, thank you."When the climate or the soil isn't conducive or you have to worry

about disease resistance, then you have to make do with what youhave," says Paul Post, one of eight brothers and sisters who run the PostFamilie Vineyards in Altus, in the Arkansas River Valley innorthwestern part of the state. The winery's origins precede the 20thcentury, and its current incarnation dates from 1951 and Matthew Post,Paul's father and the fourth generation of Posts in the area. .Much of Post's wine is made from native grapes like the Norton and

Concord, grape like fruit such as the muscadine, and hybrid grapes (socalled because they're crosses between native grapes and vinifera) likethe Vidal and the Seyval Blanc. Natives and hybrids are much moredifficult grapes to work with, and too many wineries pile on sugar tocover up a wild, almost foxy kind of flavor. But when they're done well,

continued from page 19Even the coming together of the P.e. is up for debate. Versions call for

using a blender, a whisk, a hand mixer, a fork, or your hands. Some addTabasco, onions, or jalapeno peppers. Elvis's favorite recipe purportedlycalls for Worcestershire sauce, and native North Carolinian authorReynolds Price adds garlic to the concoction that was the "peanut butterof [his] childhood."Why do we love it so? Well, it's easy to make, it's cheap, and it tastes

great. It doesn't make soft white bread go soggy, and it keeps well. It'sgood between two slices of bread, lining a rib of celery, packed into acherry tomato, or perched on a cracker. It's heaven on a hamburger or ahot dog. Or eaten with a spoon right out of the crock.e. D. Wright summed up our relationship with pimento cheese in her

poem "Personals": "Since 1971 or before, I have hunted a bench where Icould eat my pimento cheese in peace."That's what pimento cheese can mean, however your grandmother

made it: a little comfort, a little memory, a lot of peace. Dig in.KENDRA MYERS

a Norton or Seyval Blanc can wax just as poetic as a Cabernet.And the Posts have had that kind of success. One of the most recent

highlights came at the prestigious Dallas Morning News WineCompetition this spring, when a $6 Post Vidal Blanc (an off-dry whitethat fits somewhere between a Riesling and a Sauvignon Blanc) won abronze medal.In this, they are part of a large and almost unknown regional wine

industry throughout the South (and the U.S.). Wine is produced in asmany as 49 states; not only does it not all taste like CaliforniaChardonnay, it's not supposed to. There are intriguing and very well-made wines from states such as Virginia, North Carolina, and Missourithat, unfortunately, antiquated liquor laws make almost impossible tofind outside of the home states. Yet none of this seems to bother thePosts too much."Part of the reason we keep doing it is the family tradition," says Paul,

whose family's winery produces 50,000 cases a year-not much byBeringer standards, but the most in Arkansas. "It's deep in our roots. Wegrew up planting and picking grapes. Yes, it is hard work, but it alsotaught us a lot of things, and we've learned to appreciate it."

JEFF SIEGEL

SOUTHERN FOODWAYS ALLIANCEname ___

company _

address _

city state zip __

telephone fax _

email _

MEMBERSHIP

Please make checks payable to the Southern Foodways Allianceand mail them to the University of Mississippi, Center for the

Study of Southern Culture, University, MS 38677.

0$25 student 0 $50 individual 0 $75 families

o $200 nonprofit institutions 0 $500 corporations

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, VISIT US AT OUR WEB SITE: www.southernfoodways.comor call John T. Edge, SFA Director, at 662.915.5993 or via e-mail at [email protected].

Page 21: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

The weather could not have been moreperfect, nor the spirits higher, at the 10thOxford Conference for the Book, held on thecampus of the University of Mississippi and atvarious locations in the town of Oxford April10-14,2003.As part of a recent tradition, the conference

got under way at the Thacker Mountain RadioShow (www.thackermountain.com) , broadcastlive from Off Square Books on Thursday, April10. Conference authors Percival Everett andRobert Stone read from their most recentnovels, Erasure and Bay of Souls respectively.The featured music guest for the show was BenMize of Athens, Georgia, and ace NorthMississippi blues guitarist Kenny Brown was afeatured guest with the Thacker house band.The official kick-off took place Friday

morning on the campus at Johnson Commons,as Oxford's mayor, and conference cofounder,Richard Howorth welcomed the crowd. Localfavorite Barry Hannah took over, moderatingtwo panels on writing and publishing, bothchock full of writers-including locals ShayYoungblood, Jere Hoar, and Scott Morris,newcomers George Singleton, Calvin Baker,Crystal Wilkinson, and the aforementionedEverett and Stone-and book industry expertssuch as Algonquin editor Kathy Pories,outspoken Context Books publisher BeauFriedlander, Beacon Books publisher HeleneAtwan, and Jackson, Mississippi, booksellerJohn Evans of Lemuria Bookstore.After an afternoon welcome by Ole Miss

Chancellor Robert Khayat, Friday's sessionscontinued with a presentation by notedSouthern publishing house Algonquin Books,featuring esteemed editor Shannon Ravenel andher protege Kathy Pories, plus three excellent. readings by house writers George Singleton (TheHalf-Mammals of Dixie), Scott Morris (Waitingfor April), and Marshall Boswell (Trouble withGirls).Another highlight was the mid-afternoon

panel on race and publishing, moderated byHelene Atwan, who did a great job solicitinginput from the audience as well as the panel's

r

Page 22: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

participants, Percival Everett and Calvin Baker, whoshared many thought-provoking points on the topic.The day's events concluded with readings by current

and former John and Renee Grisham Southern Writersin Residence Shay Youngblood and Tom Franklin, whopremiered a new story and previewed a portion of hisforthcoming novel Hell at the Breech.For those who forged on, the night's activities offered

a cocktail party fund raiser for the conference at OffSquare Books and a panel on writing workshops by theUniversity's creative writing M.F.A. coordinator DavidGalef.Saturday's sessions began with "The Endangered

Species: Readers Today and Tomorrow," an annual panelmoderated by Elaine Scott and featuring local literacyadvocate Claiborne Barksdale, children's author GeorgeElla Lyon, and Priscilla Handy, vice president of theLafayette County Literary Council.A discussion of personal memoirs led by Ted Ownby

featured insightful comments and heartfelt readings byLauren Winner, author of Girl Meets God; Mississippinative Clifton Taulbert; and Michael Mewshaw, authorof the literary memoir Do lOwe You Something?The conference's ode to Stark Young filled a large

portion of the day, with a program by the NorthMississippi Storytellers Guild at the University Museums,a presentation by University professor emeritus JohnPilkington, and performances by local theatre troupes.Saturday's formal events culminated with a panel on

novels set in volatile third-world locales, moderated bythe Boston Globe's former Middle East correspondentCurtis Wilkie, no stranger to the world's hotspots, andfeatured readings and remarks by Robert Stone, whoseBay of Souls is set in Haiti, and Michael Mewshaw, authorof the Central Asian thriller Shelter from the Storm.The evening offered a book signing with all

conference authors at Off Square Books and an open-mike poetry jam, moderated by M.F.A. student LaceyGalbraith.The final day, Sunday, ran its full course, beginning

with a panel on Appalachian writers, moderated byKathryn McKee and featuring remarks and readings bychildren's author, poet, and novelist George Ella Lyon;Ron Rash, author of the acclaimed new novel One Footin Eden; and Crystal Wilkinson of Kentucky, author of'the novel Water Street and a story collection, Blackberries,Blackberries.Two local authors with suspenseful new novels took

the stage for mid-morning readings-Ace Atkins, authorof Dark End of the Street, and Jere Hoar, whose novel TheHit was one of the conference's most popular discoveries.University English professor Ethel Young-Minor led a

discussion on books on the civil rights movement,featuring two timely works-Sons of Mississippi, anexamination of the legacy of intolerance in the wake ofthe Meredith riots at Ole Miss, by Paul Hendrickson, and

Page 23: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

MississiPPi Harmony, the memoirs of freedom fighter WinsonHudson, as told to Constance Curry.The popular poetry panel, moderated by Blair Hobbs, was

charged by readings from Beth Ann Fennelly, newly added poetryprofessor at Ole Miss; Jamaican-born poet Shara McCallum,author of Song of Thieves; and Ron Rash.And the final panel of the day featured readings and remarks

by newcomers Calvin Baker, author of the novel Once TwoHeroes; Emily Bingham, whose nonfiction work Mordecaiexplores a prominent Jewish family from the South; and LewisRobinson, author of the acclaimed story collection OfficerFriendly and Other Stories.The conference culminated with a laid-back country dinner at

Taylor Grocery in Lafayette County.The 11th Oxford Conference for the Book, which is already in

the"planning stages and promises to feature another great line-up,will be held April 1-3, 2004.

JAMIE KORNEGAY

Tennessee Williams Tribute and Tour of Victorian HomesColumbus, Mississippi ~September 11~14, 2003

Columbus, Mississippi,birthplace of TennesseeWilliams, will honor theplaywright with lectures andperformances during a weekendthat will also offer tours ofthe town's Victorian homes.The program will begin onThursday, September 11, with aproduction of Truth in the Guiseof Illusion at 7:00 p.m.Friday's event will include

talks on Williams by literaryscholars Clyde Williams, ofMississippi State University,and Jane Hinton, of MississippiUniversity for Women, as wellas book signings, exhibitions,

and a "Moon Lake Party" atLake Norris.Literary scholars Pearl

McHaney, of Georgia StateUniversity, and W. KennethHolditch, professor emeritus,University of New Orleans, willgive presentations on Saturdaymorning. Colby Kullman, of theUniversity of Mississippi, willlecture on Night of the Iguanabefore the film version of theplay is screened that afternoon.The Columbus CommunityTheatre will present an eveningperformance of This Property IsCondemned.On Sunday, worship services

at St. Paul's Episcopal Church,where the Reverend Walter E.Dakin was rector when theplaywright, his grandson, wasborn, will be followed by lunchat noon and tours of Victorianhomes in the afternoon.There is no charge for

lectures and the film. Play andtour tickets are $10 each.Tickets for lunch on Friday,Saturday, and Sunday are $15each, and the Moon Lake Partyis $50 per person.For more information, call

662-240-1832 or [email protected].

The Southern Register Page 23Spring/Summer 2003

Page 24: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

Living Blues Symposium (continued)

Hansen Werner, and Syracuse University professor Arthur Flowersexplored the depth of blues' influence in the work of WilliamFaulkner and Ernest Hemingway and the presence of the blues ethosof individuality in present-day hip-hop culture.Longtime Living Blues contributor David Whiteis moderated a

discussion of "Documenting the Blues: Journalism, Biography, andAutobiography," featuring Elvis Presley biographer Peter Guralnick,Muddy Waters biographer Robert Gordon, Billie Holiday biographerFarah Jasmine Griffin, and Mississippi-born blues poet SterlingPlumpp.

To close the symposium, Peter Guralnick hosted a conversationwith Dick Waterman, who shared his photographs and stories ofMississippi John Hurt, Son House, Skip James, and others, from hislong career as a blues photographer, promoter, and ombudsman.The symposium was organized by the Center and was sponsored by

the Mississippi Humanities Council, the Yoknapatawpha ArtsCouncil, the Mississippi Development Authority, and Isaac K. Byrd Jr.Living Blues plans for the symposium to become a yearly event and willannounce next year's schedule and list of participants in a future issue.

PRESTON LAUTERBACH

made herself a part of Oxford while shewas here, contributing to the Center'searly accomplishments in the study offolk culture and generating friendshipsthat long endured. She came back toOxford the last time for Memorial Dayweekend in 2000, and it was like oldtimes. Her beloved cat, born onFudgetown Road, died in San Franciscoshortly before her trip back, and shedecided to bring its ashes to Oxford toscatter them in the Mississippi dust. Ourfriend Lisa Howorth went with us out tothe country, to the house on FudgetownRoad, where we were greeted by a bevyof large dogs and a young man with along and unruly beard that made himlook like the last mountain man-andone not looking for company. In typicalfashion, Ella King got out of the car andbegan confidently striding toward thesomewhat unfriendly welcoming party.Lisa and I looked at each other andhopped out, too, thinking we couldn'tsit in the car and observe whatever wasgoing to happen. When the young manfound out our purpose, he was quitefriendly, observing that if his dogs died,he too would want them a part of a placehe had known. We scattered the ashes,said some words, and returned toOxford, sending Ella King on her wayfor the last time away from Mississippi.Ella King Torrey lived a life of high

achievement, serving for a decade at thePew Charitable Trusts and then leadingthe San Francisco Art Institute into adynamic new period. Ella King left apiece of herself here in Oxford, and herfriends will always remember her. Shewas one of the most vibrant people Ihave ever known, and her joyous spiritwill be missed.

CHARLES REAGAN WILSON

Ella King Torrey: A RemembranceElla King Torrey, a long-time friend

of many Center faculty and staff, diedon April 30, 2003, in San Francisco,where until last year she had served aspresident of the San Francisco ArtInstitute. Torrey was at the Center from1981 to 1984, working on researchprojects and her master of arts thesis inSouthern folk art.I came to the Center in September of

1981, and Ella had arrived here a fewmonths earlier. She became one of mybest friends and a bright and Iivel ypresence on the Oxford scene. She hadgraduated cum laude from Yale in 1980,having completed her senior thesis onthe meanings of the Barbie Doll inpopular culture, and she came toMississippi to find out more about folkart. She and I discovered many commoninterests, including a sometimes off-beataesthetic that made room for the down-to-earth pleasures of pop culture andfolk culture. While Ella King was inOxford, our Wal-Mart opened, and shemade countless pilgrimages there, alwaysfinding the perfect little knickknack forpresents for friends. She was a believerin what Elvis called "happies,"thoughtful little gifts, and had a sense ofwonder about life, even down to the funthat could be had at Wal-Mart.Oxford in those days had more ties to

the Southern past than it does now, andlike many people new to the place EllaKing and I were out and about samplingthe local culture. We had a plate lunchat the Auction Barn in Lafayette Countyand looked at the livestock. We went toSaturday night auctions on North Lamarwhere we purchased everything fromwooden hampers to use as coffee tables,to oil lanterns for lighting, to vintageclothing. She ate enough catfish while

here to mark her forever as an adoptedMississippian. We should have hadhonorary plaques at the Holiday Inn bar,because we would regularly meet thereat the end of the day to relax and swapstories. It was one of the few bars inOxford then with a mostly adult crowd,including writer Willie Morris, whomoved to Oxford about the same time aswe had arrived and often regaled us withhis own stories. Ella King's little houseon Fudgetown Road quickly became aparty center, as we all hovered aroundthe wood-burning stove in the winter,the only source of heat for the place.My favorite ritual with Ella King was

Saturday morning breakfast at Smitty's,the classic Southern town square,biscuits-and-gravy eatery. It had a warmatmosphere and downhome waitressesthat knew us well. We ate many a steamybowl of grits and homemade biscuitsslathered with Louise Smith's ownscrumptious pear preserves.Ella King had a desk at Barnard

Observatory, from which she workedwith Maude Wahlman on an exhibitionand catalogue, Ten African AmericanQuiLters. We all learned much from herabout material culture and about newSouthern culture heroines with nameslike Sarah Mary Taylor, Pecolia Warner,and Pearl ie Posey. She wrote hermaster's thesis on the religious art ofTheora Hamblett, a north Mississippifolk artist who documented rural lifeand drew from the religious culturearound her. Ella King could be ademon for hard work, including theimmense research she did on thequilting project and on Hamblett andon other religious folk artists that puther work in context.All of which is to say that Ella King

Page 24 The Southern RegisterSpring/Summer 2003

Page 25: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

o-egion~s:-pcoming Events of Intetist

Louisiana: A History, a six-hour documentarycommemorating the Louisiana Purchase, will be airedon Louisiana Public Broadcasting September 14-19,2003. The television series begins with prehistory andexplores the major events, movements, andpersonalities that have shaped Louisiana down to themodern era. It features historical renderings, rarelyseen photographs, and historical documents. Fordetails, visit www.louisianahistory.org.

The Southern Women Writers Conference, to beheld October 16-18, 2003, at Berry College in Rome,Georgia, will examine the theme "SelfLocations/Dislocations." Among the featured speakerswill be Dorothy Allison, Mairlou Awiakta, RosemaryDaniell, Lorraine Lopez, Janisse Ray, andNatasha Tretheway. For more information, call 706-368-5625 or visit the conference Web site(www.berry.edu/academics/humanities/english/swwc2003 ).

~The Mint Museum of Art salutes one of NorthCarolina's pottery legends in the exhibition BurlonCraig and His Legacy through October 19 in theBridges Gallery of North Carolina Pottery. Craig, whodied last year at age 88, was considered one ofAmerica's great folk potters. He was honored with theNational Folk Heritage Award by the NationalEndowment for the Arts in 1984. Featured will beutilitarian churns, milk crocks, birdhouses, andmonkey jugs as well as the face jugs and snake jugsthat helped make him famous. For details, write MintMuseum of Art, 2730 Randolph Road, Charlotte, NC28207, call 704-337-2000, or visit the Web site(www.mintmuseum.org).

The Deep South Regional Humanities Center atTulane University and the Louisiana Creole HeritageCenter at Northwestern State University, through theCreole Studies Consortium, will sponsor a conferenceon the topic "Creole Legacies: The Current andFuture Prospects of Creole Studies Research," October23-25, in New Orleans. The first internationalconference to explore past, present, and future studiesof Creole culture, "Creole Legacies" aims to bringtogether scholars and members of the general publicfrom throughout the United States and beyond toshare their research findings and family histories. Tolearn more, visit www.deepsouth.tulane.edu/programs/creole.hnul.

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

JOHN T. EDGE, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance,writes about Southern food and travel. He is the author of AGracious Plenty: Recipes and Recollections from the AmericanSouth and Southern Belly. His articles have appeared in Food &Wine, Gourmet, and other publications.

JOAN WYLIE HALL teaches in the English Department at theUniversity of Mississippi. She is the author of Shirley Jackson: AStudy of the Short Fiction and articles on Tennessee Williams,William Faulkner, Grace King, Frances Newman, and otherauthors.

DONALD M. KARTIGANER holds the William Howry Chair inFaulkner Studies at the University of Mississippi and is directorof the Faulkner Conference. He is the author of The FragileThread: The Meaning of Form in Faulkner's Novels.

JAMIE KORNEGAY is a bookseller at Square Books, editor of thestore's Dear Reader newsletter, and a freelance writer. He livesin Water Valley, Mississippi.

PRESTON LAUTERBACH is a graduate of the M.A. program inSouthern Studies at Ole Miss and a member of the editorialstaff at Living Blues magazine.

TED OWNBY holds a joint appointment in Southern Studiesand history. He is the author of Subduing Satan: Religion,Recreation, and Manhood in the Rural South, 1865-1920 andAmerican Dreams in Mississippi: Consumers, Poverty, andCulture, 1830-1998.

WILEY PREWITT is director of the Northeast MississippiTraditional Music Project sponsored by the Center and theMississippi Arts Commission. He has extensive experiencedocumenting traditional culture throughout the state,including work on projects for the Center (First Monday TradeDays), the Pine Hills Culture Program at the University ofSouthern Mississippi, and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

JENNIFER A. STOLLMAN is acting assistant professor of historyand Southern Studies. She earned her undergraduate degreefrom the University of Michigan, a master's degree from WayneState, and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Herresearch interests include studies in ethnicity, gender, race, andsexuality.

DAVID WHARTON is assistant professor and director ofdocumentary projects at the Center, where he teaches coursesin Southern Studies, fieldwork, and photography. He is theauthor of The Soul of a Small Texas Town: Photographs,Memories, and History from McDade.

CHARLES REAGAN WILSON is director of the Center andprofessor of history and Southern Studies. Among hispublications are Baptized in Blood: the Religion of the Lost Causeand Judgment and Grace in Dixie: Southern Faiths from Faulknerto Elvis.

The Southern Register Page 25Spring/Summer 2003

Page 26: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

ENSLEY GIVES MEREDITHPHOTOGRAPH TO THE CENTER

Dr. Philip K. Ensley, veterinarian at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego, California,came the Center in 2001 while in Mississippi visiting the Strawberry Plains AudubonCenter in Holly Springs. Seeing the article "40 Years after Infamy, Ole Miss Looks toReflect and Heal," in the New York Times last September, Ensley sent Wilson thephotograph printed here with excerpts of the accompanying letter.

Because of that news article I went through some files and found thisphotograph of James Meredith and his son I thought you might like tohave for your files. I took this photo at a book signing a few years ago herein San Diego. He did not recognize me as the young college sophomorewho met him nearly 40 years earlier. I reminded him about the

circumstances of the meeting that took place at the Jackson, Mississippi residence ofConstance Motley in June 1962. He sat to my left, holding a narrow walking canelooking a bit like a graduate student attending an Ivy League college. He sat up erectlistening quietly to the discussion of the lawyers present nodding occasionally withapproval on issues concerning strategy to gain admission to the University ofMississippi. The meeting atmosphere was very serious. I made no contribution to theconversation, as most of the legalese was above my head anyway. I liad attended themeeting with William L. Higgs, the lawyer James Meredith first turned to forassistance when he sought legal advice on entering Ole Miss.For this photograph Mr. Meredith obliged me and held up a 1962 copy of the

Mississippi Free Press that I had saved from that summer. On the front page was aphotograph of James and his mother. In addition there was an article detailing thearrest of Bill Higgs in Clarksdale. I was also involved in that arrest. In February of1963 I was subpoenaed to testify in front of a Federal Grand Jury in Oxford. I spentthe evening prior to testifying on campus at the residence of James Silver. Hedescribed the events on the night of September 30th as they appeared through hisfront window. He was a good friend of Bill Higgs. This was the same Bill Higgs whograduated first in his class at Ole Miss, went on to Harvard Law School and wasultimately disbarred in Mississippi. This is the same Bill Higgs I have petitionedGovernor Musgtove to pardon posthumously ....I hope things are going well for you and the Center. I always look forward to

receiving the Southern Register.

lOtl1 Oxford Conference for the Bool.AUDIO TAPES(A) are $10 per program,

DVDs (D) are $30 per program,and VIDEOTAPES(V) are $20 per program.

o B(03001A Welcomeo B(03001 D Richard Howorth, Mayoro B(03001V SubmiMing Manuscripts/Working One's Way into Print

Barry Hannah, moderatorJere Hoar, Beau Friedlander, ScoMM. Morris, Kathy Pories,George Singleton, Shay Youngblood

o B(03002A Finding 0 Voice/Reaching on Audienceo B(03002D Barry Hannah, moderatoro B(03002V Helene Atwan, Colvin Boker, John Evons, Percival EvereM,

Marly Rusaff, Robert Stone, Crystal Wilkinson

o B(03003A Welcomeo B(03003D Robert C Khayat, Chancelloro B(03003V Algonquin Books: Discussion

Kathy Pories, Shannon RavenelAlgonquin Authors: ReadingsMarshall Boswell, Scott M. Morris, George Singleton

o B(03004A Race and Publishing in Americao B(03004D Helene Atwan, moderatoro B(03004V Colvin Boker, Percival EvereM

o B(03005A Readings/Remarkso B(03005D Joseph Urgo, moderatoro B(03005V Tom Franklin, Shay Youngblood

o B(03006A. How to Get the Most from a Creative Writing Workshopo B(03006D David Galef, moderatoro B(03006V D. Allan Mitchell, Joy Wilson

o B(03007A The Endangered Species: Readers Today and Tomorrowo B(03007D Elaine H. ScoM, moderatoro B(03007V Claiborne Barksdale, George Ella lyon

o B(03008A Writing Memoirso B(03008D Ted Ownby, moderatoro B(03008V Michael Mewshaw, Clifton Taulbert, lauren F. Winner

o B(03009A Stark Young: A Southerner in the Artso B(03009D John Pilkingtono B(03009V

o B(0301 OA Readings from Stark Young's Workso B(0301 ODTheatre Oxfordo B(03010V

o B(030 II A Third World Thrillerso B(03011 D Curtis Wilkie, maderataro B(03011V Robert Stone, Michael Mewshaw

o B(03012A Open Mike - Poetry & Fiction Jamo B(03012D lacey Galbraith, moderatoro B(03012V

o B(03013A Appalachian Voiceso B(03013D Katie McKee, moderatoro B(03013V George Ella lyon, Ron Rosh, Crystal Wilkinson

o B(03014A Readings/Remarkso B(030 14D Ace Atkins, Jere Hoaro B(03014V

o B(030 I SA Books on the Civil Rights Movemento B(030 I5D Ethel Young-Minor, moderatoro B(0301 5V Constance Curry, Paul Hendrickson, Winson Hudson,

Charles Marsh

o B(03016A Poetry: Readings and Remarkso B(03016D Celebration of Notional Poetry Montho B(03016V Blair Hobbs, moderator

Beth Ann Fennelly, Shara McCollum, Ron Rosh

o B(030 17A Readings/Remarkso B(030 17D Jamie Kornegay, moderatoro B(0301lV Colvin Boker, Emily Bingham, lewis Robinson

Page 27: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

For a complete list of posters, CDs,videos, and other items, see Southern

Culture Catalog on our website.

POSTERSThe Sixth Oxford Conference for theBook Poster (1999)Poster features EudoraWelty portrait byMildredNungesterWolfe from theNational PortraitGallery, SmithsonianInstitution,Washington, D.C.

Full color, 17.5 x 23.5"M9901 $10.00Friends $9.00

29th Faulkner and YoknapatawphaConference Poster (2002)"Faulkner and His Contemporaries"Poster is illustratedwith Sidney J.Waintrob's image ofEudora Welty andWilliam Faulkner onthe occasion ofFaulkner's receivingthe National Instituteof Arts and LettersGold Medal forF·· . M 1962 I l'tli.t..uh,..f\l',,"ol,pIIctlon In oy . F....... r& l'olul.",,,...,".C ... f,""h:

~"'ooItol"",""'ll.J4.lIXO:

FAULKNERAND HIS CONTEMPORARIIS

[ It IBlack and whitephotograph, mauve background,

17.5 x 23.5"M1107 $10.00Friends $ 9.00

CDsliThe Memory Is a Living Thing'l

Songs based on the writings of EudoraWelty Lester Senter, mezzo-soprano

1996 ROS Production.SR2001 $16.00Friends $14.40

Songs of Faith: African AmericanShape Note Singing from the DeepSouth, Volume One

Selectionsfrom shape notesinging conventionsthroughoutMississippi,Alabama, and Louisiana.

SR2002 $16.00Friends. . . . . . . .. $14.40

International OrdersOther video formatsmay be available.Please call forinformation.

Southern Culture CatalogThe University of MississippiBarnard Observatory • University, MS 38677Phone 800-390-3527 • Fax 662-915-5814

Sold To:

Name __

Address, _

City State __ Zip _

Country _

Dayti me phone _

o Payment enclosed (check, money order, international money order in U.S. currency

or international check drawn on a US bank; made payable to The Southern Culture Cotolog)

o Charge my: 0 Visa 0 MasterCard Account #. _

Exp. Date Signature _

How To OrderBy mail: Southern Culture Catalog

Barnard Observatory • The University ofMississippi • University,MS 38677

DeliveryOrders for delivery in the continental UnitedStates are shipped by US Postal Service unlessother means of delivery are requested. Ordersfor delivery outside the continental UnitedStates are shipped by Parcel Post.

Shipping and Handling CostsUnitedStotes: $3.50 for first video or other item,$1.00 each additional item sent to the sameaddress. Foreign:$5.00 for each item.

Posters.UnitedStotes: $3.50 for any number ofposters sent to the same address. Foreign:$10.00 for any number of posters sent to thesame address.

Bye-mail: Credit Card orders only:[email protected]

By telephone: Credit Card orders only:800-390-3527 (Monday-Friday, 8: 15

a.m.-4:45 p.m. CST) in the US.Outside the US call 662-915-5993

By fax: Credit Card orders only:662-915-5814 (Daily, 24 hours a day)

Return Policy All sales are final. No refunds will be made. If an ordercontains faulty or damaged goods, replacements will be made when such itemsare returned with problem{s) noted.

Order Total

TotalTitle/DescriptionItem # Qty. Price

This form may bephotocopied.Faxed ordersaccepted.

Mississippi residents add 7% sales taxShipping and Handling

TOTAL

Page 28: 1ISS1SSIPI)1 FAULKNER AND THE ECOLOGY OF THE SOUTHsouthernstudies.olemiss.edu/media/SRSpring-Summer2003-1.pdfConference, July 20-24, will focus on "Faulkner and the Ecology of the

.S3DNVHJ SS3.lIGGV ONDIVW N3.HA\. i3.SYI ONnIVW 3.GOiJNI

'~ ~OAClOl'V/\Cl3S80 dClVNtl'v'El

3(-llnOS .:lO AOnlS 3Hl ClO.:l Cl31N;JjI ::lIOV8'V r NN'V JO9L ·oN IIWJed

Sl!'J 'ElqolEuesOI\fd

e6ElSOd ·S ·n6JO IljOJd-UONOl.S .ll:JSl:Jd

LL98rt. SW 'Al!SldA.!U[1dll1l]n:) Uldl.pnOS JO ApnlS dl.p 10J 1dlUd:)

lddlSS!SSlW JO AllS1dA.lU[1 dljl

Please give us your correct information:Please help us reduce waste and postage costs.Complete this form and return it with your mailing label,or fax it to 662-915-5814.

o Name Misspelled

o Contact person changed

o Received more than one

o Address wrong

o Delete me from your list

Name -----------------------------------Address __

City

State Zip _

Fax: 662-915-5814e-mail: [email protected]

Internet Address: http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/south/

MAKE GIITS TO THE CENTER ON-LINE.Go to www.umf.olemiss.edu.click on "Make a Gift," and direct funds to the Center for the Study of Southern Culture.

Center for the Study of Southern Cutlure • University, MS 38677662-915-5993 • 662-915-5814

Center for theStudy ofSouthern CultureThe U n ive rs i ty 0 f Mis sis sip P i

Studying the South Since 1977I/We would like to contribute $ to the Center'sAnnual Appeal right now. Enclosed is my tax-deductiblecontribution.Annual Memberships:

o Patron: $1,000 0 Sustaining: $500 0 Sponsor: $250o Associate: $100 0 Regular: $50 0 Student: $25

Please fill out the information below when returning this card:

Name (please print) _

Address _

City

State Zip _

Friends of the CenterYour annual donation through ourFriends program helps the Center developand expand our excellent programming.Thank you for your yearly gift to the

Friends of the Center for the Study ofSouthern Culture!

I/We will support The Center for the Study of SouthernCulture with a $ pledge.

Payment Schedule:Please complete this section exactly as you wish yourpayments to be scheduled by the Center:

Monthly: $ Beginning _

Quarterly: $ Beginning _

Yearly: $ Beginning _

o Visa o MasterCard 0 American Express

AccountNumber _

Exp. Date Signature _