One Hundred Famous Southern Books

Recommended Reading #7

Jun 29, 2024

The following appeared in the South Atlantic Bulletin 8.1, 1947, published by the South Atlantic Modern Language Association.

Here are a hundred famous Southern books. They are perhaps not the hundred best books; that would be a very large order. But they are books that have had a wide influence in transmitting the history, traditions, ideas and ideals, the landscape, human character, and local color of the South, in all its regions and all its eras, to the rest of the world and to succeeding generations.

Most of the books are by Southern authors and are marked by both authenticity and sympathy. But neither Chateaubriand nor Mrs. Stowe were Southerners, and the masterpiece of the one is as much lacking in authenticity as that of the other is lacking in sympathy, although both books have contributed to the literary tradition.

That tradition is not so simple as it has sometimes been made to appear; on the contrary, it is rather complex. Even this selection of titles is not large enough to include all the data by which the South must be interpreted. But one hundred is a good round number, and if it were doubled, the sum of evidence might still be found incomplete. Every effort has been made to achieve a representative selection.

Here are books that have been praised to neglect and books that have been damned to fame; most of all, here are books that flow in the very bloodstream of Southern life. Old books have been chosen, it is hoped, with mere antiquarian zeal held somewhat in check; younger books have been included without too rigorous an application of the canons of pure literary criticism.

Some Southern authors have not much employed Southern themes in their writings, and they will be missed–all but Edgar Allan Poe, who could not be omitted. Besides the large choice of belles-lettres, what we now call creative literature, there are a number of historical source-writings of the first order. A few secondary works are included, but most of them have already been accepted as classics of their kinds, and the others have obvious summary values.

Whatever minor merits lists may possess, their major service is to promote critical arguments. This list should stir up several lively ones, and the compiler is open to conviction that his choices may be bettered. - Thomas H. English, Emory University.

1. The Gentleman of Elvas. True Relation of the Hardships Suffered by Governor Fernando de Soto ... during the Discovery of the Province of Florida. 1557.

2. Captain John Smith. The General History of Virginia. 1624.

3. William Byrd. The History of the Dividing Line. 1728.

4. John Filson. Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Kentucke. 1784.

5. Thomas Jefferson. Notes on the State of Virginia. 1787.

6. William Bartram. Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida. 1791.

7. Mason Locke Weems. A History of the Life and Death, Virtues and Exploits, of General George Washington. 1800.

8.François-René de Chateaubriand. Atala. 1801.

9. William Wirt. Letters of the British Spy. 1803.

10. Mason Locke Weems. The Life of Gen. Francis Marion. 1809.

11. William Wirt. Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry. 1817.

12. Edward Coote Pinkney. Poems. 1825.

13. John Pendleton Kennedy. Swallow Barn. 1832.