Confession: I am a bibliophile.
As a kid, I would hide for hours in closets, in bathrooms, and in trees to read my latest treasures from the library. As an adult, I don't get that luxury as much as I'd like to, but I still try to sneak in as much face-to-book time as my writing, blogging, and toddler will allow.
In college, I started out as in philosophy (since I was told that was a good major for future law students, as I was at the time), but lasted a semester before I switched to English. Thank you to the genius who created the English major, so that I could read and learn and nerd out on novels and short stories and essays for a living!
Now that I hold both a B.A. and M.A. in literature, I am oh-so-full of literary knowledge, and I get lucky enough to share that every once in a while. (I've found that my toddler does not share my enthusiasm of Yoknapatawpha County yet.)
This is one of those times.
If, like me, you enjoy literature and want some more of it in your life, you'll need to take this literary road trip of the South. You'll ramble across 10 states and see exhibits, former homes, and graves of 14 giants in literature. Some of these authors were born and raised in the South, while others settled in the area later in life: no matter when their relationship with the American South began, each of these authors added his or her own voice to the unique canon that is Southern literature.
In fact, even though there is a distinctive Southern tone to these authors' works, they transcended regional lines and became part of the larger discussion of American literature.
So, pack your bags (and don't forget your required road trip reading), and let's go on our literary South road trip!
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You won't actually be driving over water in this road trip, despite what my poor Google map skills might lead you to believe. |
Stop 1: Thomas Wolfe House // Asheville, North Carolina
Author: Thomas Wolfe
Author: Thomas Wolfe
Required reading: Look Homeward, Angel (1929)
Address: 52 North Market Street, Asheville, North Carolina
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{photo via flickr | creative commons} |
Of all of the literary places I've visited, this one is the closest I've found to actually walking through a book!
Stop 2: Connemara // Flat Rock, North Carolina
Author: Carl Sandburg
Required reading: Chicago Poems (1914), Cornhuskers (1918)
Address: 81 Carl Sandburg Lane. Flat Rock, NC 28731
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{photo via flickr | creative commons} |
Stop 3: Daufuskie Island, South Carolina
Author: Pat Conroy
Required reading: The Water is Wide (1972)
Before he entered the national spotlight as a contemporary Southern writer, Conroy was just a new teacher fresh out of college. His first placement was in a one-room schoolhouse on this tiny island off the coast of Hilton Head Island that, even today, can only be reached by boat or ferry.
Although he only taught on the island for a year, his experiences there led him to right his first bestseller: The Water is Wide. Wander the island to get a feel for what Conroy's life was like here, visit the one-room schoolhouse (which now serves as the island's library), and see many of the scenes from The Water is Wide come to life.
Stop 4: Savannah, Georgia
Author: Flannery O'Conner
Required reading: Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor (1971)
Address: 207 East Charlton Street, Savannah, Georgia
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{photo via flickr | creative commons} |
Stop 5: Andalusia Farm // Milledgeville, Georgia
Author: Flannery O'Connor
Address: 2628 N Columbia St, Milledgeville, GA
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{photo via flickr | creative commons} |
While in town, stop and pay your respects to O'Connor's final resting place at Memory Hill Cemetery.
Stop 6: Garden of Heavenly Rest // Fort Pierce, Florida
Author: Zora Neale Hurston
Required reading: Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)
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{photo via flickr | creative commons} |
Hurston, and the other authors who used the dialect approach, fell out of favor with the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance. Although she was quite well-known at her peak, Hurston died nearly penniless and was buried in an unmarked grave in Florida. Author Alice Walker rediscovered Hurston's works and has created a resurgence in interest in Hurston. Thanks to Walker, you can now visit Hurston's marked grave in Fort Pierce.
Stop 7: Hemingway House // Key West, Florida
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Required reading: To Have and Have Not (1937), "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" (1936)
Address: 907 Whitehead Street, Key West, Florida
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{photo via flickr | creative commons} |
Today, the house is open to the public for tours, and, I think, is an essential part of any visit to Key West. Learn more about the house and Hemingway's influence on American literature in this post.
Stop 8: Tennessee Williams Literary Exhibit // Key West, Florida
Author: Tennessee Williams
Required reading: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1954)
Address: 513 Truman Street, Key West, Florida
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{photo via flickr | creative commons} |
Stop 9: Old Courthouse Museum // Monroeville, Alabama
Author: Harper Lee
Required reading: To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)
Address: 31 N. Alabama Avenue, Monroeville, Alabama
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{photo via flickr | creative commons} |
Stop in the Old Courthouse Museum to see photos of Lee and hear friends and relative recount stories of her life. The Courthouse was recreated in full for the movie version of To Kill a Mockingbird, and an annual retelling of the story takes place here from mid-April to mid-May.
Stop 10: Eudora Welty Home // Jackson, Mississippi
Author: Eudora Welty
Required reading: The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty (1980)
Address: 1119 Pinehurst Street, Jackson Mississippi
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{photo via flickr | creative commons} |
Stop 11: Rowan Oaks // Oxford, Mississippi
Author: William Faulkner
Required reading: The Sound and the Fury (1929), Absalom, Absalom (1936)
Address: 916 Old Taylor Road, Oxford, Mississippi
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{photo via flickr | creative commons} |
Faulkner's major works, including those that won him the Nobel Prize for Literature (1949) and the Pulitzer Prize (1954) were written here. This is as close to Yoknapatawpha County as you can get.
Stop 12: Tennessee Williams' Home // New Orleans, Louisiana
Author: Tennessee Williams
Address: 1014 Dumaine Street, New Orleans, Louisiana
Required reading: A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)
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{photo via flickr | creative commons} |
Stop 13: Kate Chopin House // Cloutierville, Louisiana
Author: Kate Chopin
Required reading: The Awakening (1899)
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{photo via flickr | creative commons} |
Before her husband's death, Chopin lived in Cloutierville in south Natchitoches Parish. Sadly, her house burned in October 2008, and only the ruins are left. Still, seeing the place where this brave, brilliant writer lived is worth a stop on our trip.
Stop 14: Angelou City Park // Stamps, Arkansas
Author: Maya Angelou
Required reading: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970)
Located in Lafayette County, this small town is where poet Angelou was raised. The town council resisted honoring Angelou for years since she'd written honestly but negatively of her time there, but, after public opinion rose in favor of Angelou, City Park was renamed for her.
As you travel through Stamps, take a few minutes out at the park: sit on a bench, read a few passages from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and consider the hardships that Angelou had to overcome on her journey from this tiny place to literary success.
Stop 15: Samuel Clements' Childhood Home // Hannibal, Missouri
Author: Mark Twain
Required reading: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)
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{photo via flickr | creative commons} |
Even so, it's hard to discuss a road trip centered around Southern literature without including Mark Twain/ Samuel Clements, so here we are. If anything, the murky waters surrounding Twain and Missouri's inclusion on this list speak directly to the fact that Southern literature is hard to define--some would even argue that the delineation between Southern literature and American literature is unnecessary, as all authors contribute to the country's narrative.
Anyway, I digress.
Since we've made it all the way to Hannibal, let's talk about Mr. Twain. One of the most colorful people in a line-up of colorful people, Twain captured the world's imagination with his fiction. He also wrote many comic and satirical pieces, worked as a newspaper reporter, and produced several travel guides for the discerning 19th century traveler.
Although he didn't write any of his famed pieces here in Hannibal, he constantly drew from his boyhood experiences to create The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. At the museum, see how Twain grew up, and discover the real people behind the characters of Becky Thatcher and Huckleberry Finn.
Stop 16: Katherine Anne Porter Literary Center // Kyle, Texas
Author: Katherine Anne Porter
Required reading: Flowering Judas and Other Stories (1930)
Address: 508 Center Street, Kyle, Texas
We've made it to end of our road trip! Bask in that heady glow of learning and literature as we head over to the last stop on our journey: the Katherine Anne Porter Literary Center. The building, which was purchased in 1880 by Porter's paternal grandfather, was where she lived from when she was two until she was 12.
Now, the Porters' home serves as a focal point for the literary arts in Texas. The Texas State MFA program often uses the home for programs and readings. Tours are available, but you'll have to call or write prior to visiting to arrange your walk through the house.
What's your favorite literary site? What Southern locale would you add to the literary South road trip itinerary?
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