The Kentucky Anthology: Two Hundred Years of Writing in the Bluegrass State |
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The Kentucky Anthology: Two Hundred Years of Writing in the Bluegrass State
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by Wade Hall
Sales Rank: 770868
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List Price: $45.00
$35.55
At Amazon
on 6-19-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Hard Cover with 896 pages
Published by: University Press of Kentucky November 11, 2005
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0813123763
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0813123769
Book Dimensions:
9.4 x 6.5 x 2.2 inches
Weighs: 3 pounds
Product Description
A journey through the literature, history, politics, and culture of the Bluegrass State with its most important chroniclers For over two hundred years, Kentucky has inspired many of the nation's finest writers, both natives of the Bluegrass State and outsiders who were entranced by its rich natural wonders and culture. Now, for the first time, celebrated Kentucky literary historian Wade Hall has assembled a comprehensive collection of writings embodying the hopes, concerns, and aspirations that have made the state unique and yet so typically American. Hunters, soldiers, adventurers, tourists, farmers, lawyers, preachers, educators, journalists, historians, playwrights, poets, and novelists offer readers an unparalleled literary tour of Kentucky. Early descriptive and political writings by such figures as George Rogers Clark, John James Audubon, and Henry Clay give way to the flourishing body of poetry and fiction by such authors as John Fox Jr., Irvin S. Cobb, James Lane Allen, Elizabeth Madox Roberts, and Robert Penn Warren. The concerns of contemporary nationally known Kentucky writers Bobbie Ann Mason, Silas House, Sena Jeter Naslund, Sue Grafton, Frank X Walker, Barbara Kingsolver, and Maurice Manning center on the struggle to reconcile the place they call home with an increasingly global community. The Kentucky Anthology is the ultimate celebration of the state's literary heritage, which Wendell Berry once described as ""local life aware of itself.""
About The Author
Wade Hall is emeritus professor of English at Bellarmine University and served as the editor of the Kentucky Poetry Review for more than fifteen years. The author or editor of numerous books, including Conecuh People: Words of Life from the Alabama Black Belt and Passing for Black: The Life and Careers of Mae Street Kid, Hall lives in Louisville, Kentucky.
Reader Reviews
As I type this, it is the day before Thanksgiving. Among the many things for which I am truly thankful is this new anthology of Kentucky authors and excerpts related to this Commonwealth over the last 200 years. The excerpts are arranged by historical eras, and the emphasis has been on a sample offering, not a ranking or "best of" volume, which would have been edited differently no doubt. While most authors here will be new discoveries for general mainstream readers, there are some national names here that most Americans will probably recognize. The works of Robert Penn Warren and Wendell Berry will always be national treasures, and a new movie of Warren's ALL THE KING'S MEN will soon be released, no doubt prompting many to take up the novel, to experience it for themselves. Wendell Berry has a new book of essays out this month (he is pro-agrarian, pro-peace, pro-local autonomy), and perhaps those relishing the included samples in here will turn to that splendid volume next. This is a weighty tome, 879 pages, but it opens easily with print that is easy on the eyes. The dustjacket design is from Wade Hall's quilt collection, a splendid choice, and while it has a good share of Kentucky blue, several other colors weave into this quilt. So too, the writing inside represents the different regions of Kentucky, different eras, different worldviews, different ethnic groups. The one section of Kentucky that I feel is greatly under-represented is the limestone bluegrass, the Kentucky hardboots. Horses have long been one of the attractions of the state, with Kentucky Horse Park, Churchill Downs, Keeneland, a large number of horse farms, etc., and there is a wealth of quality Kentucky horseracing literature unaccountably not represented in this volume. Where is Kent Hollingsworth, lawyer, wit, longtime editor of THE BLOOD-HORSE, author of THE ARCHJOCKEY OF CANTERBURY? Where is Mike Berry, the funny editor of the IRISH AMERICAN and longtime horseracing writer? How about Earl Ruby (author of THE GOLDEN GOOSE) or Jim Squires (author of HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR, one of the best Kentucky horseracing titles of recent years, full of humor and grace)? I could name a dozen other Kentucky authors of equine-related works, worthy but missing. Not that contemporary authors are left out. Sue Grafton is in here (although her father, Kentucky lawyer and novelist C. W. Grafton is not mentioned). I was glad to see many of my other favorites here: Chris Offutt (an heir of the Warren/Berry tradition), poet Frederick Smock, Ed McClanahan, Guy Davenport, Bobbie Ann Mason, and many others. Among the missing favorites were Terry Bisson (author of the Nebula and Hugo Award winner, BEARS DISCOVER FIRE, a Kentuckian writing about Kentucky), Anne Shelby, historical author Ted Franklin Belue, longtime comic columnist and author Richard Des Ruisseaux, and many other good ones. Well, I guess everyone could not possibly be included. Again, I'm thankful for what we do have here. At the tag end of the anthology, an appendix of author biographical sketches is provided along with a helpful bibliography and an index. Wade Hall, who prefaces and introduces his selections, has done a tremendous job with this. He dedicates the volume to the late Dr. Thomas Clark, a monument to the man and to the literary history of the land.
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The Kentucky Anthology: Two Hundred Years of Writing in the Bluegrass State
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Price: $35.55
Updated on 6-19-2008.
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