On Matters Southern: Essays About Literature and Culture, 1964-2000

by Marion Montgomery

Marion Montgomery, family man, citizen, professor, literary critic, poet, philosopher, is a prolific defender of the poetic, cultural and critical vision of the Fugitive poets, the Southern Agrarian writers, and the New Critics of the 20th century. He has published more than 20 major works of criticism in the past 40 years. This volume presents 16 of his essays, selected and edited by Michael M. Jordan with a foreword by noted historian Eugene D. Genovese. It is a good introduction to the thinking and writing of a man who speaks for southern conservatism with passion and imagination, with head and heart, exercising both faith and reason. This work is divided into five sections--"The Author at Work and at Home," "On Place and Region," "On Fugitives, Agrarians, and New Critics," "On Individual Authors" and "On Books and Schooling." In the essays Montgomery discusses the importance of place in all serious literature, but especially in southern letters. He notes differences between southern and northern fiction. He pays tribute to Andrew Lytle, Madison Jones, and M.E. Bradford, and explicates the fiction of Walker Percy. Taken together, the essays reveal Montgomery's gifts and a keen intellect combined with a reverential awareness of the importance of tradition.

Genres: Literary Criticism, Essays, Southern

214 pages, Paperback

First published August 22, 2005

About the author

Marion Montgomery was an American poet, novelist, educator, and critic. For more than 30 years he was a professor of English at the University of Georgia.

Reviews

[Rob Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of essays showing a good scope of Montgomery's thought and work. Thoughtful analysis of the importance of "place" to a writer and the particular ways various southern authors have used it, as well as comparisons to northern writing. Montgomery frequently uses Faulkner and O'Connor as examples.

[Antonio Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Here we have no abiding city-- not even in art." - Marion Montgomery.

One of the reads that sparked my imagination to bigger and better things. The first three essays are especially recommended, as well as the "Southern Letters."