More Lights Than One: On the Fiction of Fred Chappell

by Patrick Bizzaro (Editor)

Fred Chappell belongs to a small company of writers renowned equally for their poetry and their prose fiction. In American literature, only Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Penn Warren have won acclaim in both genres. Chappell’s fictional work ranges from realism to fantasy and is startling in its documentary detail, often biting in its ever-present humanity, and consistently humorous. This new volume presents a superb assemblage of commentators who cast light on Chappell’s remarkable artistry. They make clear why—from It Is Time, Lord to Look Back All the Green Valley —the fictional oeuvre of this western North Carolina author has won the hearts of readers and the praises of critics. The book explores Chappell’s works in chronological order. Early novels such as The Inkling, The Gaudy Place, and Dagon receive close, fresh examination and prove to be marked by genius. The tetralogy about the Kirkman family—a portrait of Chappell’s native region from the 1930s to the present, and undoubtedly his most significant work to date—is explained in terms of point of view, autobiographical influence, and the tradition of Old Southwest humor. Under the interpretive gaze, Chappell’s stories reveal a dazzling range, and all of his work shows a concern with the relationship between the spiritual and material in people’s lives, the moral development of the human race, and the flawed, enigmatic, and yet enlightening interaction between men and women. Contributors include Richard Dillard, Kelly Cherry, George Hovis, Shelby Stephenson, Patrick Bizzaro, J. Spencer Edmunds, Rebecca Smith, Traci Lazenby, Rosemary Cox, Peter Makuck, Warren Rochelle, John Lang, Karen Janet McKinney, and James W. Kirkland. Robert Morgan provides a thoughtful and illuminating foreword, citing both the liveliness of Appalachian storytelling and the subtlety of modern fiction in Chappell’s works. Fred Chappell himself has the final word in a wise and wry response to his critics. Few living authors merit the early critical consideration given Fred Chappell in More Lights Than One. A worthy companion to Dream The Poetic Vision of Fred Chappell, this book will only appreciate over time.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Warren Rochelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have an essay in this collection on Fred Chappell's fiction of which I am proud. I enjoyed writing it.