New Stories from the South, 2005
In the preface to the twentieth installment of this distinguished annual anthology, Jill McCorkle notes several southern characteristics but insists nonetheless on the commonalities of southern stories and those by other groups that "have been set aside or deprived by poverty or illiteracy or prejudice." In good stories anywhere she looks for "pain, sorrow, grief," and this collection has these in abundance, not only in individual lives but also in the portraits of whole communities struggling to connect themselves. In Stephanie Soileau's "The Boucherie," an estranged local and his neighbors from Sudan carry out a painful ritual of connection before the rest of the community. James Lee Burke's "The Burning of the Flag" also offers a stark image of a community ritual in its final scene, with two boys who have struggled against the abuse of another, defining themselves with the "proper" burning of a damaged flag: "good-natured firemen and the Dunlop family and the patrons of the watermelon stand stood in a circle around two small boys, whose exteriors were made of tallow, warping in the firelight." These are impressive, original stories.James O'LaughlinCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved