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Deep South Books
Tongues of Flame
These beautifully crafted stories depict the changing relationships between black and white southerners, the impact of the civil rights movement, and the emergence of the New South.
Mary Ward Brown is a storyteller in the tradition of such powerful 20th-century writers as William Faulkner, Harper Lee, Flannery O'Connor, and Eudora Welty-writers who have explored and dramatized the tension between the inherited social structure of the South and its contemporary dissolution. With Tongues of Flame, her first collection of short stories, Brown bares the awkward, sometimes hopeful, and often tragic suffering of people caught in changing times within a timeless setting.
Here we meet such memorable characters as a dying black woman who seeks the advice of a now-alcoholic white doctor whom she knew in better years; a young woman, jilted at the altar, driven crazy by an illuminated cross erected by the church opposite her house; and a 95-year-old woman buying a tombstone for her long-deceased husband only to discover that he had been adulterous throughout their marriage. Brown constructs her characters in a disarmingly plain style while breathing life into them with compassion and honesty as they confront the large moments of their lives.
First published by E. P. Dutton in 1986 to immediate critical acclaim, Tongues of Flame won the 1987 PEN/Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award. The judges commended Brown for "seeing life whole, without prejudice, without sentimentality, without histrionics. Her voice may be quiet-sometimes she speaks in a whisper-but her words are, nevertheless, always forceful, clear, and ultimately lasting." With this new publication of Tongues of Flame and its inclusion in the University of Alabama Press's Deep South Books series, a whole new generation of readers may once more discover Mary Ward Brown's profound stories of pain, loss, and hope.
Mary Ward Brown is a storyteller in the tradition of such powerful 20th-century writers as William Faulkner, Harper Lee, Flannery O'Connor, and Eudora Welty-writers who have explored and dramatized the tension between the inherited social structure of the South and its contemporary dissolution. With Tongues of Flame, her first collection of short stories, Brown bares the awkward, sometimes hopeful, and often tragic suffering of people caught in changing times within a timeless setting.
Here we meet such memorable characters as a dying black woman who seeks the advice of a now-alcoholic white doctor whom she knew in better years; a young woman, jilted at the altar, driven crazy by an illuminated cross erected by the church opposite her house; and a 95-year-old woman buying a tombstone for her long-deceased husband only to discover that he had been adulterous throughout their marriage. Brown constructs her characters in a disarmingly plain style while breathing life into them with compassion and honesty as they confront the large moments of their lives.
First published by E. P. Dutton in 1986 to immediate critical acclaim, Tongues of Flame won the 1987 PEN/Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award. The judges commended Brown for "seeing life whole, without prejudice, without sentimentality, without histrionics. Her voice may be quiet-sometimes she speaks in a whisper-but her words are, nevertheless, always forceful, clear, and ultimately lasting." With this new publication of Tongues of Flame and its inclusion in the University of Alabama Press's Deep South Books series, a whole new generation of readers may once more discover Mary Ward Brown's profound stories of pain, loss, and hope.
184 pages, Paperback
First published July 29, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
February 7, 2017
Well that was different. Not at all what I thought from the cover I had: https://pictures.abebooks.com/isbn/97... (but that's not quite right, as there's no purple or anything weird).
Very short stories, mostly taking place in a small town outside of Montgomery in the 1980s. Issues of tradition and of race are very complicated, and Brown's treatment is clarifying, though she does almost oversimplify. There's clearly a bit of academic *L*iterary fussiness of metaphor and allusion, but the vignettes are engaging and readable straight, too.
3.5 stars rounded up because I've never read anything like it before, and I do recommend it to interested readers. There is no ya-ya sisterhood here, no debutante, little humor, not a whole lot of alcohol, some church business, no Colonel, few pearl necklaces. There is dialect, there are both compassion and cruelty, both love and anger.
And it's by a woman, mostly about women of all ages and both races. Even though the women tend to work harder, be more responsible, and serve more obediently than their men, this book would definitely pass the Bechdel test.
Very short stories, mostly taking place in a small town outside of Montgomery in the 1980s. Issues of tradition and of race are very complicated, and Brown's treatment is clarifying, though she does almost oversimplify. There's clearly a bit of academic *L*iterary fussiness of metaphor and allusion, but the vignettes are engaging and readable straight, too.
3.5 stars rounded up because I've never read anything like it before, and I do recommend it to interested readers. There is no ya-ya sisterhood here, no debutante, little humor, not a whole lot of alcohol, some church business, no Colonel, few pearl necklaces. There is dialect, there are both compassion and cruelty, both love and anger.
And it's by a woman, mostly about women of all ages and both races. Even though the women tend to work harder, be more responsible, and serve more obediently than their men, this book would definitely pass the Bechdel test.
September 8, 2017
I felt, after I finished reading this book, that I was back in Selma in the early '90s.....of an early Sunday afternoon right after church and dinner, depressed and lonely (although with other people). Is there such a thing as a happy short story? I really don't think so. But Mary Ward Brown did an excellent job of depicting life as bleak as it can be, in the form. FTR, I loathe short stories. They always depress me, both because they're either inherently depressing or tawdry (or the world's worst combination of the two), and because they either end too soon or go on just a _little_ too long. So why did I give this one a try? Because, may the Saints preserve me, I have joined a book club and it was the first reading. And, a good friend and *usually* like-minded reader gave this book five stars. In places, the writing itself deserves that, I get that. And I'm glad I read the book. But I still loathe short stories.
June 6, 2026
I'm a tad bit embarrassed that despite reading fairly widely in the works of Southern authors I was totally unawares of this sterling short-story writer. I don't know how this volume came to my attention, but I'm very glad it did. I didn't love the entire set, but I surely liked the majority. Many of them had a tinge of sadness to them, and give an insight into life in mid twentieth-century Alabama. I heartily recommend it, and I plan to read her other collection as well as her memoir.
March 14, 2016
I take a strange pride in knowing that Marion, Alabama, and Marion County, Alabama, are in two different places. I know this because I once drove southwest from Birmingham to a friend’s graduation in Marion, Alabama (Perry County), and until very recently, any trip from Birmingham to Memphis took you northwest and included a painstakingly slow journey through Marion County on U.S. 78.
Considering my profound knowledge of Marion the town, then, I was surprised recently when a former Perry County resident told me about Mary Ward Brown—an Alabama author of some renown whose work I had never read.
The book sat on my shelf for a few weeks, and I regarded it as merely the work of a semi-local author that I would eventually get acquainted with. After reading the first three stories of the collection, however, it was clear that I was reading something worth much more attention. In fact, I believe this collection ranks with the best short fiction of the 20th century.
William Faulkner often claimed that writing short fiction is more difficult than novels because of the “absolute exactitude” demanded by the shorter form, and I think the stories in Tongues of Flame support that. No words are wasted, and the rare apparent digression is quickly revealed to be a key detail.
These are stories to be read in the summertime, preferably on a porch swing or some other place that evokes memories of people you knew from Ward’s generation. Because even though I only spent a few hours in Marion 20 years ago, the setting, and the characters and the relationships and the grief in these stories feel so familiar…not unlike the hymns Ward describes in “Let Him Live.”
“It was music that, if you heard it as a child, you never got over, because it went with nurses who wouldn’t tell, with bare black feet, steaming corn bread and vegetables cooked with salt pork, with a way of life now gone forever. It went with people you had loved.”
Considering my profound knowledge of Marion the town, then, I was surprised recently when a former Perry County resident told me about Mary Ward Brown—an Alabama author of some renown whose work I had never read.
The book sat on my shelf for a few weeks, and I regarded it as merely the work of a semi-local author that I would eventually get acquainted with. After reading the first three stories of the collection, however, it was clear that I was reading something worth much more attention. In fact, I believe this collection ranks with the best short fiction of the 20th century.
William Faulkner often claimed that writing short fiction is more difficult than novels because of the “absolute exactitude” demanded by the shorter form, and I think the stories in Tongues of Flame support that. No words are wasted, and the rare apparent digression is quickly revealed to be a key detail.
These are stories to be read in the summertime, preferably on a porch swing or some other place that evokes memories of people you knew from Ward’s generation. Because even though I only spent a few hours in Marion 20 years ago, the setting, and the characters and the relationships and the grief in these stories feel so familiar…not unlike the hymns Ward describes in “Let Him Live.”
“It was music that, if you heard it as a child, you never got over, because it went with nurses who wouldn’t tell, with bare black feet, steaming corn bread and vegetables cooked with salt pork, with a way of life now gone forever. It went with people you had loved.”
December 1, 2014
Mary Ward Brown! Even the name falls trippingly from the tongue, does it not? Only in the last two years has this great woman of letters died. She lived an amazing life. This collection of stories was published when she was no spring chicken (nearly 70 years old).
She published most of the stories individually in literary magazines from the time she graduated college until the time she published the collection. She wrote like Chekhov. One of my favorite lines from the collection comes from the titular story where the narrator is discussing her love for a man named Frank. The narrator says, "Spring was Frank in a short-sleeved shirt." Ah, I think I dropped the book on the floor after reading that. The book is filled with these gems, these perfect sentences. (Her method of writing was always to compose in long-hand. She would write her stories on paper and then rewrite them on paper, always removing unnecessary words, which gives her prose the quality of poetry.)
I live in the state where she lived, Alabama. If I were asked to give one book that best portrays Alabama, I would give them this book. And although these stories are set in the South, they contain universal themes- love, loss, class, race, death, aging, and surviving. (I can't remember which one of those literary devils said something along the lines of this: in order to write about universal truths, you must first write from a particular place. Mary Ward Brown wrote from Alabama, but she could have and would have written well from anywhere.)
I cannot recommend these stories enough.
She published most of the stories individually in literary magazines from the time she graduated college until the time she published the collection. She wrote like Chekhov. One of my favorite lines from the collection comes from the titular story where the narrator is discussing her love for a man named Frank. The narrator says, "Spring was Frank in a short-sleeved shirt." Ah, I think I dropped the book on the floor after reading that. The book is filled with these gems, these perfect sentences. (Her method of writing was always to compose in long-hand. She would write her stories on paper and then rewrite them on paper, always removing unnecessary words, which gives her prose the quality of poetry.)
I live in the state where she lived, Alabama. If I were asked to give one book that best portrays Alabama, I would give them this book. And although these stories are set in the South, they contain universal themes- love, loss, class, race, death, aging, and surviving. (I can't remember which one of those literary devils said something along the lines of this: in order to write about universal truths, you must first write from a particular place. Mary Ward Brown wrote from Alabama, but she could have and would have written well from anywhere.)
I cannot recommend these stories enough.
May 14, 2019
4
I'd never heard of Mary T, as she liked to be called until I read "Deep South" by Paul Theroux. My library had this copy and I fell in love with her beautiful prose. I'm not prone to enjoy short stories, I like the way a novel unfolds so there were a couple that didn't do it for me but I think it's more personal taste than the story's fault.
Highly recommend.
I'd never heard of Mary T, as she liked to be called until I read "Deep South" by Paul Theroux. My library had this copy and I fell in love with her beautiful prose. I'm not prone to enjoy short stories, I like the way a novel unfolds so there were a couple that didn't do it for me but I think it's more personal taste than the story's fault.
Highly recommend.
November 28, 2017
Read about this Alabama author of short stories in Paul Thoreaux's travel book about the South. I really enjoyed her writing and her stories.
March 5, 2024
I love Mary Ward Brown's writing. Her memoir ("Fanning the Spark") is a wonderful glimpse into her life and her writing process. Her last collection of stories ("It Wasn't All Dancing") is a must read and her initial collection (the one I'm reviewing here) was features stories published in the late 1970s and 80s after she'd turned 60. This collection is almost as magnificent as "Dancing", and that's a very tall bar.
Most of her stories are set in the rural South (Alabama) and often deal with race, relationships, and aging and the overall struggle with living. There are 11 stories in this collection and they're good ones. I wish she'd started earlier.
Most of her stories are set in the rural South (Alabama) and often deal with race, relationships, and aging and the overall struggle with living. There are 11 stories in this collection and they're good ones. I wish she'd started earlier.
September 18, 2025
these trad short stories are not innovative or pyrotechnic or fashionable. mostly unrelated, they are good as heck. innovation of standing still doing your thing while the world spins around and pukes on itself
“Several magnolias glistened in the sun. Their leaves, dull and suede-like underneath, shone as if waxed and polished on top. The sky was clear and blue, the air like a subtle stimulant. Nature seemed to favor this venture of Mrs. Worthy's...” ("Off At Last")
“Several magnolias glistened in the sun. Their leaves, dull and suede-like underneath, shone as if waxed and polished on top. The sky was clear and blue, the air like a subtle stimulant. Nature seemed to favor this venture of Mrs. Worthy's...” ("Off At Last")
November 20, 2017
Very Falkner'est language
February 8, 2020
Very good. The stories are calm and quiet, but poignant. Recommended.
July 26, 2021
WOW…don’t usually like short stories but this unassuming, late in life author should be more well known…beautiful use of language in a spare style that proves her natural gift of storytelling
May 9, 2023
A new discovery for me.
June 13, 2015
The recently deceased southern writer, Mary Ward Brown (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/boo...) was a remarkable short story writer. She is a writer that I did not know, despite her having won the 1986 Hemingway Foundation/PEN award for the best first book of fiction by an American author. It’s that book, Tongues of Flame, which grabbed my attention shortly after learning about Brown. Tongues of Flame contains 11 superbly crafted stories about life in the southern United States in the early to mid-1960s. Race relations (on a personal level) permeate these tales as do the considerations of aging, and the move from an agrarian economy. One of my favorite stories, “The Amaryllis “depicts a retired judge’s awe at this flower’s grandeur. Another, “New Dresses” captures the strained relationship between a daughter and her mother-in-law and the mutability of time. Ms. Brown followed “Tongues of Flame” with a second collection, “It Wasn’t All Dancing and Other Stories” (2002). In 2009 she published “Fanning the Spark: A Memoir,” a tale of a meandering life led more or less in one place on its way to find a purpose. I’ll be reading those too!
October 15, 2015
A collection of touching short stories by a life-long inhabitant of Marion, Alabama, a smallish town in the Alabama black belt. Ms. Brown did not publish her first story until she was 63 years old and lived to 96. An interview with her is to be found in Paul Theroux's new book, The Deep South. She writes in a deceptively plain style, but her metaphors will at times make you stop and read them again and even smile. She deals with the subtleties of the southern culture, families, race, friendships, the aging process, even dogs. An insightful and enjoyable read.
May 17, 2013
Bought this beautiful collection of southern short stories at Lemuria in Jackson, Mississippi. Owner, John Evans, celebrated the author, Mary Ward Brown, with the same enthusiasm he exemplified in promoting local treasure, Eudora Welty. Each story cleanly and tenderly expresses the sins of the southern fathers and the subsequent havoc raised. The insight into character is exquisite. I will turn to these stories again and again.
April 3, 2009
An excellent collection of short stories on small town life, marriage, religion, and race in Alabama. I had the privilege to meet Mary Ward Brown and she is a lovely woman and a very talented author. Her stories are simple, yet have a huge impact. My favorite stories from the "Tongues of Flame" collection is "Goodbye Cliff," it is both heartbreaking and witty
September 14, 2008
I will come back to this book in the future and, perhaps, finish it. I find that the stories I've read so far are too sad, too dark.
November 5, 2011
A sequence of stories that vividly captures the beauty, the complexity, and the hurt of the present day black belt. Brown's writing is unassuming and honest.
December 27, 2015
perhaps best short story in contemporary literature = The Amaryllis
Want to Read
May 20, 2016Mentioned in The Mockingbird Next Door
August 13, 2013
Beautifully written short stories. I really enjoyed this book.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews