The Christ-Haunted Landscape: Faith and Doubt in Southern Fiction

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Summary: 12 Southern authors discuss God, faith and warped religion.
Review: Flannery O'Connor died of lupus at age 39 in 1964, leaving us hard, clear and corrosive writing.Susan Ketchin's book examines the influence of religion on 12 living authors who shuffle down some of the same paths Miss O'Connor traveled. Miss O'Connor is the region's reigning recalcitrant Catholic. With discipline, spite and relentless rewriting, she created ornery, twisted and largely unrepentant Protestant characters. O'Connor looms large over this book (the title is her words). But that doesn't mean everyone here likes her. More than one finds her mean-spirited. Sheila Bosworth, another Catholic and friend of the late Walker Percy, asks why, if we are to thank God for every good thing, why we can't indict him for the bad ones. Sitting across a plate of catfish with Larry Brown on his 40th birthday is an experience none of us are going to have, but Ms. Ketchin did. We get to listen to the former firefighter tell about a long effort to cut a boy out of a mangled car, with his former partner, now dead. His reflection on how one detail could have ended the boy1s life shows why Mr. Brown is a thoughtful writer. The value of this book is that the authors tend to be more direct in interviews than they allow themselves in their fiction. Ms. Ketchin's clear-eyed observation tells us what's important; what shaped the writer. It1s reassuring to see these authors are also decent men and women, who struggle with the same burdens their readers do. But they think about it longer and harder than most of us care to. "You spend most of your time thinking about, meditating upon, trying to dissect and understand just those aspects of the human animal that other human beings try their damndest never to thing about," Harry Crews says. Ms. Ketchin mentions the occasional patronizing tone of critics who read Southern women1s fiction. "Pull up a rocker on the front porch and pour a glass of ice tea," one writes in a favorable review of a Lee Smith novel. While Ms. Smith may have a different style than Joan Didion, she is just as sharp an observer of detail, and perhaps even better at genuine inner dialogue of her characters. No one would suggest pulling up a rocker for a Didion novel, nor should they for Ms. Smith, who is a serious writer blessed with a sharp sense of humor. To note Ms. Ketchin is the wife of author Clyde Edgerton would seem to be almost as condescending. But near the end of the book, she sets up the tape recorder for her spouse of more than 20 years, and gives him the same even-handed, thoughtful treatment she used for the other 11. I was glad to know she was married to an author; I believe it gives her an insight to their methods and frustrations others would not possess. For writers, it's heartening to see their heroes make mistakes and retell their shortcomings and doubt. I don't know for sure, but I bet Mr. Brown would take out a reference to Tom Selleck in "A Roadside Resurrection," if he had it to do over again. A man who wears a Flannery O'Connor T-shirt to book signings surely knows the value of making a story timeless. Will readers 30 years from now know who Tom Selleck was? Probably not. But then to hear him say "Whatever good is in this world has to have teeth in it if evil is to be dealt with," is worth the price of the book. Almost all of the dozen writers here say for fiction to last, it has to address things that matter -- life and death; good vs. evil; salvation or perdition. Lisa Ashmore [e-mail]

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Summary: The Christ-Haunted Landscape
Review: Susan Ketchin has captured the essence of Southern Fiction in this anthology. All the elements of preaching, drinking and crazy relatives are in these short stories. It is a treat to read the interviews with the authors and glimpse what makes them write. I have since read books by all the authors in the book. This is a great find for discussion in book clubs or Sunday school classes.

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Summary: An essential primer for lovers of Southern fiction.
Review: This compilation is an essential read for those who love the South, Southern writers and Southern fiction; or for those who may be curious to see how the mood of a region in which one lives can so fully encompass one that it demands to be put down on paper. Ms. Ketchin does an admirable job of serving up a full-course Southern meal through the eyes of the diverse writers she interviews and excerpts. Some stories are serious, some funny, and some a little twisted; all are good. Coupled with the relaxed interviews with the authors, the reader feels connected.