Mark wrote: miker, nice summary of the overlap between
Southern Gothic and noir. I'm curious, would you include one
of your faves, Nightmare Alley? (One of these days, I've got
to get around to reading that.) The reason I ask is because
of its carnival setting. A friend of mine praises Katherine
Dunn's Geek Love, set within a freak show, as a prime example
of contemporary Southern Gothic. I haven't read it, either. I
have read Freezer Burn by Joe Lansdale, also set in a
carnival, and it seems to fit your definition.
************ I wouldn't include NIGHTMARE ALLEY because it
didn't seem to be "distinctly" Southern. But keep in mind the
Southern Gothic definition I came up with is based on a very
limited amount of reading.
I have been thinking about the common themes in the four
books I have read that I thought had the feel of Southern
Gothic. I think one is the rejection of the noble savage
concept. Southern Gothic believes that when you peel away
civilization, you end up with a person with Conrad's heart of
darkness. Even with this common thread, the books are vastly
different from each other.
TOBACCO ROAD has more of a heart of emptiness. They aren't
willfully mean and wicked. It's just that poverty and
laziness and apathy has turned them into something less than
human.
Crews's FEAST OF SNAKES is a Southern twist to O'Hara's theme
in APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA. A character chafes from the
harness of a restrictive, hypocritical, cruel society, and
their con- flicting desires to both embrace this society and
reject it leads to an unhealthy ending.
Dickey's DELIVERANCE has several characteristics of a quest
novel. There is a trip. There is a superficial reason for the
trip, which is to take a vacation and have an adventure.
There is the real reason for the trip, which is always self-
knowledge. They discover that the peaceful resistance of
Gandhi or King only works against a halfway civilized
opponent. Against the heart of darkness, violence must be met
with violence. The realization of this is their
salvation.
Thanks for the comment on Dunn's GEEK LOVE,
Mark. I'll put it on my list.
miker
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