In this Book
- Lewis Nordan: Humor, Heartbreak, and Hope
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: The University of Alabama Press
summary
Lewis Nordan: Humor, Heartbreak, and Hope examines and celebrates the work of southern writer Lewis “Buddy” Nordan, whose stories reveal his own pain and humanity and in their honesty force us to recognize ourselves within them.
Written by scholars and fiction writers who represent a fascinating range of experience—from a Shakespearean scholar to English professors to a former student of Nordan’s—this is a rich array of essays, poems, and visual arts in tribute to this increasingly important writer. The collection deepens the base of scholarship on Nordan, and contextualizes his work in relation to other important southern writers such as William Faulkner and Eudora Welty.
Nordan was born and raised in Mississippi before moving to Alabama to pursue his Ph.D. at Auburn University. He taught for several years at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and retired from the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a professor of English. Nordan has written four novels, three collections of short stories, and a memoir entitled Boy with Loaded Gun. His second novel, Wolf Whistle, won the Southern Book Award, and his subsequent novel, The Sharpshooter Blues, won the Notable Book Award from the American Library Association and the Fiction Award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters. Nordan is renowned for his distinctive comic writing style, even while addressing more serious personal and cultural issues such as heartbreak, loss, violence, and racism. He transforms tragic characters and events into moments of artistic transcendence, illuminating what he calls the “history of all human beings.”
Table of Contents
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- Acknowledgments
- p. xi
- Introduction
- pp. 1-8
- 1. Don’t Cry for Me, Itta Bena
- pp. 9-14
- 3. Sugar amongst the Chickens
- pp. 23-24
- 4. Redbird
- p. 25
- 11. Lewis Nordan’s Southern Magic
- pp. 104-116
- 12. Lewis (Buddy) Nordan: Poet of Prose
- pp. 117-120
- 14. Music of the Swamp
- p. 131
- 15. Wonderful Geographies
- pp. 132-138
- 16. The Nordan Shakespeare
- pp. 139-146
- 19. Buddy on the Plains: An Interview (2009)
- pp. 179-192
- Works Cited
- pp. 193-196
- Contributors
- pp. 197-198
Additional Information
ISBN
9780817385743
Related ISBN(s)
9780817356811
MARC Record
OCLC
772845350
Pages
218
Launched on MUSE
2012-06-26
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2012