New Stories from the South 1996: The Year's Best
This year's annual anthology of Southern writing includes a special surprise?William Faukner's "Rose of Lebanon," unpublished until 1995. This offering from the master is like a glorious sip of rare, old wine. However, Faulkner's story is not the only delight in this collection. Of particular note is Lee Smith's "The Happy Memories Club," a beautifully crafted story about an elderly woman who is thrown out of a writing group because of her insistence upon "the voice of myself," and Robert Olen Butler's "Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot." There are a few disappointments as well, but the truly good stories prevail. Perhaps most readers will skip over the preface, but those who read it will be disappointed in the tired old questions about identifying "Southern themes." In fact, discerning readers may choke on a comment attributed to a previous reviewer: "For better or for worse, the South has joined the larger community." Enlightened readers know that Southern themes have always feasted on universal doom. This anthology is highly recommended.?Susan Colegrove, Athens Regional Lib. System, Ga.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.