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Southern Gothic

While related to the tradition of English and American Gothic literature, Southern Gothic is its own beast. Investigating the dark heart of a complex American region, Southern Gothic literature lifts the veil of the South's outward emphasis on civility and veneration for tradition to reveal transgression, degeneracy, and sin. Within this collection, you’ll discover study guides on Southern Gothic classics from William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Harper Lee, Tennessee Williams, and more.

Publication year 1990Genre Novel, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Identity: Race, Society: Nation, Society: War, Values/Ideas: Justice & InjusticeTags Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Southern Gothic, American Civil War, Southern Literature, American Literature, History: World

William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! (1936) is one of the many texts in Faulkner’s oeuvre that is set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi. Faulkner is considered one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, a designation earned due to his innovative and stylistic modernist techniques, which he uses to investigate the history and identity of the American South. Faulkner, who grew up in Mississippi and spent the majority of his life there, was deeply... Read Absalom, Absalom! Summary


Publication year 1993Genre Short Story, FictionTags Modern Classic Fiction, Southern Gothic, Christian literature, Education, Education, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, American Literature, Gothic Literature, Classic Fiction

Flannery O’Connor originally published the short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” in the 1953 anthology The Avon Book of Modern Writing. It subsequently appeared in several other collections and is today one of O’Connor’s most famous works. It is also one of the best-known examples of the Southern Gothic genre, which O’Connor explored in most of her writing. This genre is characterized by its emphasis on the interplay between grace and the... Read A Good Man Is Hard To Find Summary


Publication year 2023Genre Novel, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Natural World: Flora/plants, Relationships: FamilyTags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Gothic Literature, Southern Gothic

Publication year 1990Genre Short Story, FictionTags Southern Gothic, Education, Education, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, American Literature, Gothic Literature, Classic Fiction

Published in 1930, “A Rose for Emily” is one of American author William Faulkner’s most popular short stories and was his first to appear in a national magazine. Like many of Faulkner’s other works, “A Rose for Emily” takes place in the fictional town of Jefferson, which is based on Faulkner’s hometown of Oxford, Mississippi. Through the titular character Emily Grierson, Faulkner explores the complex relationships between individuals and society in the American South, and... Read A Rose for Emily Summary


Publication year 1991Genre Novel, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Relationships: MothersTags Southern Gothic, American Literature, Classic Fiction, Grief / Death, Parenting, Education, Education, Southern Literature, History: World

As I Lay Dying is a Southern Gothic novel by William Cuthbert Faulkner, which he published in 1930. The story follows a poor, rural family’s journey across Mississippi to bury their dead matriarch and is marked by dark humor and stream-of-consciousness style narration.Faulkner (1897-1962) was a writer from Oxford, Mississippi. His novels and works of short fiction, including The Sound and the Fury (1929) and As I Lay Dying (1930), earned him the Nobel Prize... Read As I Lay Dying Summary


Publication year 1998Genre Play, FictionThemes Values/Ideas: MusicTags Southern Gothic, American Literature, Education, Education, History: World, Drama / Tragedy, Classic Fiction

A Streetcar Named Desire is one of Tennessee Williams's most famous plays. Published in 1947, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and has garnered numerous Tony and Olivier awards since its first production. Blanche Dubois arrives at the French Quarter of New Orleans to stay with her sister, Stella Kowalski. The sisters grew up wealthy on Belle Reve, a plantation in Laurel, Mississippi, and Blanche is immediately critical of what she sees as Stella’s rough... Read A Streetcar Named Desire Summary


Publication year 2009Genre Novel, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Good & EvilTags Fantasy, Romance, Southern Gothic, Relationships

Beautiful Creatures (2009) is a young adult paranormal romance novel written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Garcia and Stohl combine their interest in Southern Gothic literature with supernatural romance. Beautiful Creatures is the first book in the four-part Caster Chronicles. The novel follows the romance between Ethan Wate and Lena Duchannes as Lena comes to terms with the supernatural powers that make her a Caster. Lena and Ethan struggle to find a way to... Read Beautiful Creatures Summary


Publication year 2004Genre Play, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Identity: Sexuality, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Identity: Femininity, Identity: MasculinityTags Southern Gothic, Play: Drama, Classic Fiction, Education, Education, American Literature, Southern Literature, History: World, Drama / Tragedy

First performed in 1955, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is one of American playwright Tennessee Williams’s best-known works. This classic play won the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle award for Best American Play, and was adapted into a 1958 film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman. Adapted from Williams’s short story “Three Players of a Summer Game,” the three-act Cat on a Hot Tin Roof occurs in real-time as the Pollitt family gathers... Read Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Summary


Publication year 1993Genre Novel, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Revenge, Values/Ideas: Fate, Values/Ideas: Justice & InjusticeTags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Southern Gothic, American Literature, Southern Literature, Southern Gothic, Gothic Literature

Child of God (1973) is the third novel by American Pulitzer Prize–winning author Cormac McCarthy. Like McCarthy’s first two novels, Child of God is a Gothic horror set in Appalachia. The story follows the deterioration of 27-year-old Lester Ballard after he is violently dispossessed of his family farm and becomes a serial killer. Through Lester’s extreme isolation and moral corruption, McCarthy explores the themes of Fate in a World Without Grace, The Violence Inherent to... Read Child of God Summary


Publication year 2010Genre Novel, FictionThemes Relationships: Friendship, Life/Time: The PastTags Mystery / Crime Fiction, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Southern Literature, Southern Gothic

Published in 2010, Tom Franklin’s Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is a literary crime novel centered around two unsolved murders that connect past and present. The novel follows Silas Jones, a black constable in a small town in Mississippi, and Larry Ott, the white suspect in a decades-old, unsolved murder. Silas and Larry grew up alongside each other and developed a tentative friendship that the two grown men explore through flashbacks. When another teenaged girl goes... Read Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter Summary


Publication year 1931Genre Short Story, FictionThemes Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Emotions/Behavior: Revenge, Identity: Femininity, Identity: RaceTags American Literature, Race / Racism, Education, Education, Southern Gothic, History: World, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction

“Dry September,” by American author William Faulkner, is a short story that explores racial tension, violence, and moral decay in a small Southern town when a white woman’s accusation against a Black man leads to violence. The story, which unfolds in five parts, revolves around the rumors that Will Mayes, a Black man, assaulted or frightened a white woman, Miss Minnie Cooper. Without concrete evidence, the men of the town exact their revenge against Mayes... Read Dry September Summary


Publication year 1996Genre Short Story, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Society: Class, Values/Ideas: EqualityTags Race / Racism, Southern Gothic, American Literature, Southern Literature, History: World, Classic Fiction

First published in New World Writing magazine in 1961, “Everything That Rises Must Converge” is the title story from Flannery O’Connor’s final collection of short stories. Hailed as one of the United States’ greatest writers, O’Connor is best known for her award-winning short fiction and her contributions to the genre of Southern Gothic literature. The collection Everything That Rises Must Converge was published posthumously in 1965. It contains nine stories, seven of which appeared previously... Read Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories Summary


Publication year 1955Genre Short Story, FictionThemes Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Relationships: Mothers, Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Values/Ideas: Truth & LiesTags Southern Gothic, Education, Education, American Literature, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction

“Good Country People” first appeared in Flannery O’Connor’s short story collection A Good Man is Hard to Find in 1955 and is widely regarded as an exemplary work of Southern Gothic literature. Like many of O’Connor’s works, “Good Country People” contains a critique of the American South and religious hypocrisy rooted in O’Connor’s worldview informed by her Catholic faith. This study guide uses the 1988 Library of America edition of Flannery O’Connor’s Collected Works. The... Read Good Country People Summary


Publication year 2023Genre Novel, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Relationships: Family, Life/Time: The Past, Relationships: SiblingsTags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Fantasy, Southern Gothic

Publication year 1996Genre Novel, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Identity: Race, Values/Ideas: Equality, Values/Ideas: Justice & InjusticeTags Race / Racism, Southern Gothic, Mystery / Crime Fiction, American Literature, Southern Literature, Southern Gothic, History: World, Classic Fiction

Intruder in the Dust is a 1948 novel by William Faulkner that examines racism in the American South in the mid-20th century through the tale of a Black man wrongly accused of killing a white man. The novel was adapted into a well-received film in 1949.This guide is based on the 2015 Vintage edition.Content Warning: The source text and this guide discuss racism, enslavement, and death by suicide. In addition, the source text uses the... Read Intruder in the Dust Summary


Publication year 1990Genre Novel, FictionTags Modernism, Southern Gothic, Drama / Tragedy, History: U.S., Southern Literature, American Literature, History: World, Classic Fiction

Published in 1932, Light in August is William Faulkner’s seventh novel. The novel is set in the American South during prohibition and features an ensemble cast of characters who grapple with alienation, racism, and heartbreak across a nonlinear narrative. Classified as a Southern gothic and modernist novel, Light in August is considered a seminal work in 20th-century American literature.Note: This study guide quotes and obscures Faulkner’s use of the n-word.Plot SummaryLena Grove, a young pregnant... Read Light in August Summary


Publication year 2004Genre Novel, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Regret, Identity: Indigenous, Natural World: Environment, Natural World: Place, Relationships: Family, Society: Colonialism, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Religion & SpiritualityTags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Historical Fiction, Southern Gothic, Southern Literature, Gothic Literature

One Foot in Eden is a 2002 crime novel by Ron Rash. Rash employs a blend of Southern Gothic and detective fiction to create suspense and explore the psychological inner conflict of the characters. The novel follows five different narrators as the people of Jocassee, South Carolina, discover the murder of Holland Winchester. As the investigation continues, the characters must come to terms with the displacement of their community while Carolina Power evicts the inhabitants... Read One Foot in Eden Summary


Publication year 2007Genre Novel, FictionThemes Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Relationships: Siblings, Emotions/Behavior: GuiltTags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Southern Gothic, American Literature, Southern Literature, Gothic Literature, Classic Fiction

Outer Dark (1968) is Cormac McCarthy’s second novel. The setting resembles Appalachia circa 1900; however, in this fabulist story, the setting transcends one particular location. A postmodern take on Southern gothic, the novel centers on two siblings, Culla and Rinthy Holme, who have a child together. After the child is born, Culla flees and wanders the earth like Cain. He is shadowed by a murderous trio, who act as both his punishers and his guardians... Read Outer Dark Summary


Publication year 1965Genre Short Story, FictionThemes Self DiscoveryTags Southern Gothic, Religion / Spirituality, Classic Fiction

Publication year 1941Genre Short Story, FictionThemes Identity: Gender, Values/Ideas: Beauty, Values/Ideas: Power & GreedTags Southern Gothic, Education, Education, American Literature, History: World, Classic Fiction

Born in 1909 in Jackson, Mississippi, Eudora Welty was a fiction writer and photographer who predominantly wrote about the American South. After finishing college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Welty spent her entire adult life in Jackson, and her stories often reflect the intimacies of everyday Mississippi life. Published in 1939, “Petrified Man” is a Southern Gothic short story that offers a glimpse of an average morning for two women at a hair salon in... Read Petrified Man Summary


Publication year 1899Genre Short Story, FictionThemes Identity: Race, Identity: Gender, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / PerseveranceTags Southern Gothic, Race / Racism, African American Literature, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction

Publication year 2000Genre Novel, FictionThemes Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Identity: Sexuality, Identity: Mental HealthTags Southern Gothic, LGBTQ, Love / Sexuality, American Literature, Southern Literature, Classic Fiction

Reflections in a Golden Eye (1941), Carson McCullers’s second novel, is set at an American Southern army base during the 1930s and portrays the lives of six interconnected people who are alienated from themselves and the world in different ways. Though the story involves murder, voyeurism, sadism, self-mutilation, and repressed gay desire, it examines these topics through the filter of quotidian domestic life. Reflections in a Golden Eye is one of the few works of... Read Reflections in a Golden Eye Summary


Publication year 2020Genre Novella, FictionThemes Identity: Race, Society: Community, Society: NationTags History: World, Southern Gothic, Fantasy, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Historical Fiction, Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction

Publication year 2005Genre Novel, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Natural World: EnvironmentTags Southern Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Southern Gothic, Drama / Tragedy, Historical Fiction

Saints at the River is Ron Rash’s first novel. Before the book’s appearance in 2004, Rash established a reputation as one of the most promising young voices in contemporary Appalachian literature as a poet and short story writer. In his poetry collections, Rash, a native of rural South Carolina, captured the beauty of the Carolina wilderness and, at the same time, investigated the challenges of preserving that wilderness in the new millennium. His award-winning short... Read Saints at the River Summary


Publication year 1996Genre Book, NonfictionThemes Values/Ideas: Religion & SpiritualityTags Religion / Spirituality, History: U.S., Southern Literature, Journalism, Southern Gothic, History: World, Biography

Dennis Covington’s Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia is a work of non-fiction, originally published in 1995. The narrative begins when Covington starts reporting on Glenn Summerford’s trial for the attempted murder of his wife, Darlene, by rattlesnake bite. Brother Glenn is a preacher in a snake-handling church in Scottsboro, Alabama, which is close to Covington’s home in Birmingham. Glenn is pleading that his wife tried to commit suicide and had... Read Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia Summary


Publication year 1993Genre Novel, FictionThemes Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Society: Class, Life/Time: The PastTags Classic Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Southern Gothic, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, Southern Literature, American Literature, Gothic Literature, History: World

Publication year 2017Genre Novel, FictionThemes Identity: Mental Health, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Relationships: MarriageTags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Southern Gothic, Relationships, Modern Classic Fiction

Sometimes I Lie is a 2017 murder thriller by veteran BBC journalist-turned-novelist Alice Feeney that challenges the reader to piece together an elaborate puzzle, complicated by the unfolding realization that the narrator may be a compulsive liar. The novel, with its decidedly ironic use of stock elements of murder mysteries (a torrid affair, an unexpected pregnancy, a demented stalker turned rapist, dark family secrets, a bad case of amnesia, a tragic house fire, incriminating diaries... Read Sometimes I Lie Summary


Publication year 1998Genre Play, FictionThemes Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Identity: Sexuality, Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: ArtTags Southern Gothic, Play: Drama, American Literature, Southern Literature, History: World, Drama / Tragedy, Classic Fiction

Suddenly Last Summer (1958) is a one-act play by American playwright Tennessee Williams. It was originally staged with another Williams drama (Something Unspoken) in a double bill known as Garden District and met with mixed reviews upon its Broadway premiere. This may have been due to the content of the play, which includes pedophilia, cannibalism, and relationships between men (considered scandalous at the time). Indeed, Williams reportedly modeled Suddenly Last Summer and its two-monologue structure... Read Suddenly Last Summer Summary


Publication year 1992Genre Novel, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Regret, Society: Class, Society: CommunityTags Auto/Biographical Fiction, Humor, Southern Gothic, American Literature, Southern Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Classic Fiction

Suttree by Cormac McCarthy is a piece of Southern Gothic fiction published in 1979. Considered a modern classic of American literature, it exemplifies McCarthy’s characteristic use of imagery, existentialist exploration, and societal criticism.McCarthy is the author of 12 novels, including bestsellers Blood Meridian (1985), All the Pretty Horses (1992), and the Pulitzer-prize-winning novel The Road (2006). The Road and his novel No Country for Old Men (2005) were adapted into celebrated films. McCarthy was born... Read Suttree Summary


Publication year 2011Genre Novel, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Natural World: EnvironmentTags Magical Realism, Fantasy, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Southern Gothic, Modern Classic Fiction

Swamplandia! is a 2011 novel by the American author Karen Russell. It is an adaptation of her short story “Ava Wrestles the Alligator,” first published in the Summer 2006 issue of the literary magazine Zoetrope: All-Story and later collected in her 2006 book of short stories, St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. It was longlisted for the Orange Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A Miami native, Russell uses magical... Read Swamplandia! Summary


Publication year 1990Genre Short Story, FictionThemes Life/Time: Coming of Age, Natural World: Environment, Values/Ideas: Justice & InjusticeTags Historical Fiction, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Animals, Science / Nature, Civil Rights / Jim Crow, Southern Gothic, Reconstruction Era, History: U.S., Southern Literature, American Literature, History: World, Classic Fiction

“The Bear” is a work of short fiction by William Faulkner, first published in The Saturday Evening Post in May 1942. Faulkner subsequently expanded the story and included it in Go Down, Moses, a collection of related short stories sometimes considered a novel, published later that year. An abbreviated version also appears in his 1955 anthology, Big Woods. As historical fiction set in an imagined Mississippi county, “The Bear” traces a young man’s development in... Read The Bear Summary


Publication year 1999Genre Play, FictionTags Southern Gothic, LGBTQ, American Literature, Education, Education, Drama / Tragedy, Classic Fiction

Tennessee Williams, who wrote The Glass Menagerie in 1944, refers to the work as a “memory play” (750). Now recognized as one of the greatest American playwrights in history, The Glass Menagerie launched Williams’s career. The play is heavily influenced by Williams’s own life. The character of Laura is based on Williams’s older sister, Rose (alluded to by Laura’s nickname, Blue Roses), who was subjected to a botched lobotomy that rendered her mentally disabled and... Read The Glass Menagerie Summary


Publication year 1991Genre Novel, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Life/Time: The Past, Society: Class, Values/Ideas: Power & GreedTags American Literature, Southern Literature, Southern Gothic, History: World, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction

Publication year 1961Genre Novel, FictionThemes Relationships: Marriage, Society: Community, Society: ClassTags Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Victorian Period, British Literature, American Literature, Southern Literature, Southern Gothic

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1940) is a Southern Gothic novel written by Carson McCullers, one of the most prominent American literary voices of the 20th century. Set in a small unnamed town, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter captures the spiritual isolation and loneliness of five ordinary people in the deep American South in the 1930s. McCullers is known for her contributions to the development of the Southern Gothic subgenre, and her novels... Read The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter Summary


Publication year 2015Genre Short Story, FictionThemes Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Identity: GenderTags Southern Gothic, Disability, Education, Education, American Literature, Classic Fiction

Publication year 2003Genre Novel, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Life/Time: The Past, Emotions/Behavior: NostalgiaTags Modern Classic Fiction, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, American Literature, Southern Gothic

The Little Friend (2002) is a Southern Gothic novel by Donna Tartt. Twelve-year-old protagonist Harriet Dufresnes, who lives in the small town of Alexandria, Mississippi, becomes obsessed with her brother Robin’s unsolved murder and her family’s mythical lost fortune and happiness. This coming-of-age novel traces Harriet’s attempts to discover and murder Robin’s killer, all while grappling with loss, revisionist history, secrets, and social tensions based on race, class, and gender.Donna Tartt became a success when... Read The Little Friend Summary


Publication year 1998Genre Play, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Identity: Mental Health, Natural World: Animals, Natural World: Environment, Natural World: Place, Society: War, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Life/Time: Mortality & DeathTags Play: Drama, Southern Gothic, History: U.S., American Literature, Southern Gothic, History: World, Drama / Tragedy, Classic Fiction

The Night of the Iguana, a play by Tennessee Williams, debuted on Broadway in 1961 and went on to run for a respectable 316 performances. It was also nominated for the Best Play Tony Award and marked Williams’s fourth New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award win for Best American Play. The play was first adapted from some elements of a short story by the same title, which Williams published in 1948 as part of a... Read The Night of the Iguana Summary


Publication year 2002Genre Novel, FictionThemes Life/Time: The PastTags Southern Gothic, Women's Studies (Nonfiction), American Literature, Southern Literature, History: World, Classic Fiction

Eudora Welty’s novel The Optimist’s Daughter was published in 1972 and won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction the following year. Welty, who was born in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1906, originally wrote the The Optimist’s Daughter as a short story for The New Yorker, in which it was published in 1969. Welty is widely known as a Southern writer because her fiction is derived from the politics, people, and culture of the American South. Before becoming... Read The Optimist's Daughter Summary


Publication year 1994Genre Novel, FictionThemes Relationships: Fathers, Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Natural World: Environment, Life/Time: The FutureTags Historical Fiction, Southern Literature, American Literature, Southern Gothic, Classic Fiction

The Orchard Keeper is the 1965 debut novel of American author Cormac McCarthy. The story explores the relationship between a young boy and the man who killed the boy’s father; it explores themes of The Chaos of the Wilderness, Cyclical Violence, and The Encroachment of Modernity. The Orchard Keeper won a number of awards, while McCarthy’s later works would earn him a Pulitzer Prize. This guide is written using an eBook version of the 1993... Read The Orchard Keeper Summary


Publication year 1990Genre Novel, FictionThemes Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Fate, Society: Economics, Relationships: Siblings, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Identity: Sexuality, Identity: MasculinityTags Southern Gothic, Classic Fiction, Modernism, Education, Education, Southern Literature, American Literature, History: World

William Faulkner’s 1929 novel The Sound and the Fury relays the trials and decline of a once-prominent Southern family, the Compsons. The novel grapples with the challenges of a changing cultural landscape as modernity encroaches on the values—and deep-seated prejudices—of the Old South. Told through the perspectives of the three Compson brothers, Benjy, Quentin, and Jason, the novel visits and revisits key events in the family’s past and present. Much of the concern swirls around... Read The Sound and the Fury Summary


Publication year 2020Genre Novel, FictionThemes Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Revenge, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Values/Ideas: Justice & InjusticeTags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Southern Gothic, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, Black Lives Matter, Relationships, Race / Racism, Class, Psychological Fiction, Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Fantasy, Religion / Spirituality

Publication year 1960Genre Novel, FictionTags Southern Gothic, Christian literature, Religion / Spirituality, American Literature, Southern Literature, Gothic Literature, Classic Fiction

The Violent Bear It Away is a fiction novel published in 1960 by the American author Flannery O’Connor. Written in O’Connor’s trademark Southern Gothic style, the book chronicles the inner turmoil of a 14-year-old boy from rural Tennessee as he struggles against his destiny of becoming a prophet. It is an expansion of O’Connor’s 1955 short story, “You Can’t Be Any Poorer Than Dead,” which is presented here as the book’s first chapter.This study guide... Read The Violent Bear It Away Summary


Publication year 2006Genre Novel, FictionThemes Life/Time: Coming of AgeTags Modern Classic Fiction, Classic Fiction, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, American Literature, Southern Gothic, Education, Education, History: World, Historical Fiction

To Kill a Mockingbird is a Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel written by Harper Lee and originally published in 1960. The book is widely regarded as an American classic and, until recently, was the only novel Lee had published. To Kill a Mockingbird was inspired by events and observations that took place in Lee’s hometown. Set in the Great Depression, from 1932 to 1935, the novel is narrated by a young girl named Scout, whose coming-of-age experiences closely mirror... Read To Kill a Mockingbird Summary


Publication year 1995Genre Short Story, FictionThemes Relationships: Family, Society: ClassTags Southern Literature, Race / Racism, Southern Gothic, Education, Education, History: U.S., History: World, Historical Fiction, Humor, Classic Fiction

“Why I Live at the P.O.” is a short story written in 1941 by Eudora Welty, an author and photographer from the American South. The story’s narrator, Sister, narrates her family’s reaction as her sister, Stella-Rondo, leaves her husband and returns to the family’s home in China Grove, Mississippi, surprising her family with a young child in tow. As conflict unfolds among the family members, Sister moves into the post office where she works, seeking... Read Why I Live at the P.O. and Other Stories Summary


Publication year 2007Genre Novel, FictionThemes Identity: Gender, Values/Ideas: Trust & DoubtTags Southern Gothic, Gender / Feminism, Religion / Spirituality, Christian literature, American Literature, Southern Literature, Gothic Literature, Classic Fiction

Wise Blood is Flannery O’Connor’s first novel, and it is concerned with the journey of a young man named Hazel Motes. At the beginning of the narrative, Motes is traveling to Taulkinham, Tennessee, after fighting for four years in World War II. Before his military service, Motes had always intended to become a preacher like his grandfather before him, but his war experiences cause Motes to become an anti-religious nihilist.After arriving in Taulkinham, Motes encounters a young... Read Wise Blood Summary