by Doris Betts
First published 1990
Doris Betts turns her attention to the women writers who came to dominate Southern literature after 1950. She argues that while men like William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, and Robert Penn Warren launched the Southern Renaissance, and the second generation brought forward Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, and Carson McCullers, the third wave belongs to women. Betts surveys fifteen writers whose careers took off in the latter half of the twentieth century. She examines how each author fits within Southern literary traditions while carving out distinct voices. These writers have earned National Book Awards, Pulitzer Prizes, and the Yale Younger Poets' Prize. Their works have attracted widespread critical praise and successful film adaptations. Betts brings her own experience as a Southern writer to bear on her analysis. Her introduction explores what makes Southern writing distinctly Southern. The book offers readers insight into a generation of women who reshaped American literature.
Genres: literary-criticism, american-fiction, 20th-century, southern-gothic, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: literary-criticism, non-fiction
Setting: South, Southern
Period: 20th Century, 21st Century
408 pages · Paperback · University Alabama Press