While this title is specifically for those preferring deep study of literature, it covered such a breadth of genres and time periods as to be fascinating. And the cover is beautiful! This volume examines indigenous literature, Southwest humor, slave narratives, and the literature of the Civil War. Essays on modern and contemporary writers and the state’s changing role in southern studies look at more recent literary trends, along with essays on key individual authors such as Faulkner, Welty, and Tennessee Williams. From this single volume the interested reader will learn volumes" about Mississippi’s great literary tradition.

Each essay is well-written, and each comes together to complete the whole work. Being originally from MS, I constantly surprised my fellow lit majors ( I attended college at a small TX college) with the ideas that have come from so many famous and influential MS authors, many of which I grew up reading and learning from. I have always been in awe of the number of wonderful works that have come from MS authors, and the information I learned from this text has only strengthened my understanding and opened my eyes to even more wonderful authors and information. I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in literature, MS history, Southern American history, Native American history...pretty much anyone with a curiosity to learn more.

A good book for anyone who loves literature! I especially enjoyed it because I am originally from Mississippi and found it very interesting to read about my home states literary history.

A Literary History of Mississippi

On December 10, 1817, Mississippi became the twentieth state, and it seems fitting to acknowledge one of its greatest contributions to the union, indeed to the world at large on this significant birthday. We Mississippians come last on many lists, but most scholars note the disproportional number of literary giants the state has produced and wonder why. A book that will help you if you want to get some proof and look at some reasoning for this achievement is A Literary History of Mississippi, published by University Press of Mississippi and edited by Lorie Watkins.

Chapters are both interesting and scholarly, written by experts about that particular time in Mississippi literature or the authors who are the chapter’s focus. The first few chapters cover the field chronologically beginning with indigenous writers and oral storytellers, moving through the designation at that time in history of Old Southwest frontier literature with rural and backwoods settings, on to the Civil War writings, and slave narratives. The next section focuses a chapter each on Mississippi literary giants – William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams, and Margaret Walker. The final section moves back to a general take on the modern-day writers, who seem to rise like kudzu in the field of popular literature, poetry, song-writing, biography, and the briefer forms of essays and short stories. One of these new writers, Jesmyn Ward, won the National Book Award for Sing, Unburied, Sing after this volume was published.

The volume is a good overview of Mississippi literature with condensed life stories and listings of the works of several major authors. It is a helpful guide to anyone interested in reading Mississippi tales (the essence of being Southern in one view), in finding or reviewing the times that motivated the writer, or in seeing how place influenced the narrative. An answer is given at the end about how such a disproportional number of writers came to be from this place. After pondering whether it is in the air we breathe or the water we drink, their answer was expressed in a more erudite way, but it amounted to “Beats me!”

Mississippi is defined by a lot of things. The Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement, the stereotypes that usually are not stereotypes.
There are so many different views of this state and for me it starts with where you are in the state that shapes your views. The Delta, The Coast, the middle ground with names I can't even begin to pronounce.
This is a wonderful look at what made us a state and the good, the bad and the ugliness that came with that and to some degree is still happening.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history or Mississippi.

Lovely exploration of this state’s rich literary history. I have a love hate relationship with Faulkner. Big lover of Southern literature. One of my fave classes in college.

Unfortunately, I am not able to review this as an e-galley as it cannot be sent to Kindle. I will read it when it is published.

A Literary History of Mississippi is an excellent exploration of the state’s literature and its contexts. Mississippi was once a wealthy state built on plantation agroindustry, commercial fishing, slavery, immigrants, and distinct regions—from hill country to the Mississippi River to the delta and the Gulf Coast—with their own cultures. This edited volume of critical essays is an essential entry point into all of that, and it goes well beyond Mississippi’s most famous author, William Faulkner, into literature that predates Faulkner by a long shot. Much of the book dealt with authors and works I was unfamiliar with, which made my reading of it educational and not just enlightening. One of my favorite pieces is about Eudora Welty. I was happy that almost no writer was left out of the authors’ essays, including contemporary writers like Jack Butler, Richard Ford, Ellen Gilchrist, Barray Hannah, Larry Brown, and Ellen Douglas to name a few.

University of Mississippi Press has produced another quality book not only about literature, but of literature. This will make a great addition to all academic libraries, libraries with strong regional collections, all libraries in Mississippi, and personal collections for those interested in Southern literature and literary studies. A fantastic and welcome achievement.

Exactly what it says it is – a literary history of Mississippi. A comprehensive survey of all things literary, written in a scholarly yet accessible way with a wealth of information for all bibliophiles.