A Transitional Word

A TRANSITIONAL WORD This special double issue of Appalachian Heritage represents the continuation of a fine publishing tradition that began in 1973 when Albert Stewart conceived the idea and gave birth to a new regional literary journal. Published first at Alice Lloyd College and then independently at Hindman with the help of the Hindman Settlement School, Appalachian Heritage has now found a home at Berea College. Because there is still need for a regional publication devoted to literature, poetry, and literary and cultural studies, the editorial aims of the magazine will remain essentially what they have been from the beginning. Appalachian Heritage will continue to publish the best of fiction and poetry, literary studies and cultural studies relating to the mountain area, honoring the high standard of taste and creativity set by Albert Stewart, who edited the magazine. Likewise we shall remain unashamedly regional in scope. First because the rich abundance of outstanding work in Appalachian letters merits presentation and review in such a form as this; second because as Flannery O'Connor has written and as James Still has also said, all great literature is regional. O'Connor once wrote, "The best American fiction has always been regional." It has remained longest, she said, "wherever there has been a 4 shared past, a sense of alikeness, and the possibility of reading a small history in a universal light." It may not be agreed that histories in Appalachia are small, but it is indisputable that we share a past and a sense of alikeness despite our diversity, and that the men and women of letters of Appalachia have for generations given us universal light. Appalachian Heritage is dedicated to just that kind of illumination. You are invited to help us sustain it. —John B. Stephenson President Berea College 5 ...