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Green Centuries
This tragic novel traces the barbarization of the white settlers of the Appalachian frontier, culminating in the destruction of the Cherokee nation and the moral corruption of its conquerors. Southern Classics Series.
488 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1941
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About the author
Caroline Gordon
42 books21 followersCaroline Gordon was an American novelist and literary critic who, while still in her thirties, received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1932 and an O. Henry Award in 1934.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 24, 2025
A novel that examines one of the central tenets of our American identity—the endless quest for progress. Here that progress is the the pioneer movement west, out of North Carolina and into the Tennessee region. The same American impulse was taken up by Wallace Stegner in The Big Rock Candy Mountain, or by AB Guthrie in The Big Sky, or by Andrew Lytle in At the Moon's Inn.
Caroline Gordon uses the myth of Orion as the backbone of the story, with Rion Outlaw as the hero and tragic counterpart to the Greek hero. But she also litters the story with other mythical references (e.g., Jocasta/Cassy, Rion’s wife). And she brings in historical paradigms as well, such as the great Cherokee brave, Dragging Canoe, and the great pioneer, Daniel Boone. But she does not follow the expected, evident paths with her references. She does not make the mythical connections in the way you would expect. Her purposes seem to be much deeper, probing both the early American experience and the archetypal counterpoint. In puzzling them out, she brings a greater awareness of our American heritage, and of human nature.
While the plot flags at parts, and Rion wasn't as intriguing of a main character as some of her other protagonists, the story is captivating in its own right, and the historical and mythical foundations provide you with a lot to think about.
"That look he had, almost too bold for a human. When a beast was set on going its way you couldn't stop it, short of killing it. Daniel [Boone] talked about Kentuck and likely it was all he said it was, it if it wasn't he wouldn't care. He'd be off over the next range to see if the land there wasn't better. Or if Kentuck turned out to be the richest land ever was anywhere, something would take him away from it. He didn't have any choice. He was one of those men had to keep moving on…" (327)
"He raised his eyes to the black rim of western woods. Those stars that Frank used to point out to him were showing. They made a picture: Orion, the mighty hunter. He had been beloved by Diana. One day he was wading through the sea and the goddess' brother, jealous, had showed the dark thing in the water to his sister. The archer-goddess discharged her shaft with fatal aim. The waves rolled the dead body to the land and Diana, weeping, placed him among the stars. When he was a boy on the Yadkin he used to like to think that he took his name from the mighty hunter, and out in the woods at night or coming home from a frolic he would look up and pick out the stars: the hunter's foot, his club, his girdle, the red eye of the bull that he pursued ever westward. . . . His father had come west across the ocean, leaving all that he cared about behind. And he himself as soon as he had grown to manhood had looked at the mountains and could not rest until he knew what lay beyond them.But it seemed that a man had to flee farther each time and leave more behind him and when he got to the new place he looked up and saw Orion fixed upon his burning wheel, always pursuing the bull but never making the kill. Did Orion will any longer the westward chase? No more than himself. Like the mighty hunter he had lost himself in the turning. Before him lay the empty west, behind him the loved things of which he was made. Those old tales of Frank's! Were not men raised into the westward turning stars only after they had destroyed themselves?” (468-69)
Caroline Gordon uses the myth of Orion as the backbone of the story, with Rion Outlaw as the hero and tragic counterpart to the Greek hero. But she also litters the story with other mythical references (e.g., Jocasta/Cassy, Rion’s wife). And she brings in historical paradigms as well, such as the great Cherokee brave, Dragging Canoe, and the great pioneer, Daniel Boone. But she does not follow the expected, evident paths with her references. She does not make the mythical connections in the way you would expect. Her purposes seem to be much deeper, probing both the early American experience and the archetypal counterpoint. In puzzling them out, she brings a greater awareness of our American heritage, and of human nature.
While the plot flags at parts, and Rion wasn't as intriguing of a main character as some of her other protagonists, the story is captivating in its own right, and the historical and mythical foundations provide you with a lot to think about.
"That look he had, almost too bold for a human. When a beast was set on going its way you couldn't stop it, short of killing it. Daniel [Boone] talked about Kentuck and likely it was all he said it was, it if it wasn't he wouldn't care. He'd be off over the next range to see if the land there wasn't better. Or if Kentuck turned out to be the richest land ever was anywhere, something would take him away from it. He didn't have any choice. He was one of those men had to keep moving on…" (327)
"He raised his eyes to the black rim of western woods. Those stars that Frank used to point out to him were showing. They made a picture: Orion, the mighty hunter. He had been beloved by Diana. One day he was wading through the sea and the goddess' brother, jealous, had showed the dark thing in the water to his sister. The archer-goddess discharged her shaft with fatal aim. The waves rolled the dead body to the land and Diana, weeping, placed him among the stars. When he was a boy on the Yadkin he used to like to think that he took his name from the mighty hunter, and out in the woods at night or coming home from a frolic he would look up and pick out the stars: the hunter's foot, his club, his girdle, the red eye of the bull that he pursued ever westward. . . . His father had come west across the ocean, leaving all that he cared about behind. And he himself as soon as he had grown to manhood had looked at the mountains and could not rest until he knew what lay beyond them.But it seemed that a man had to flee farther each time and leave more behind him and when he got to the new place he looked up and saw Orion fixed upon his burning wheel, always pursuing the bull but never making the kill. Did Orion will any longer the westward chase? No more than himself. Like the mighty hunter he had lost himself in the turning. Before him lay the empty west, behind him the loved things of which he was made. Those old tales of Frank's! Were not men raised into the westward turning stars only after they had destroyed themselves?” (468-69)
March 24, 2010
This is far and away the best historical novel I've read of pioneer days in the United States before they were united or states, in fact it's one of the best historical novels I've ever read, period. It's about the first white settlers in Kentucky, in the late 1700s.
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