Download or read book Defining Southern Literature written by John Earl Bassett and published by Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Defining Southern Literature delineates several phases in the story of Southern literature. Debate over what makes Southern literature different - or even Southern - goes back many decades, and among the answers has been the debate itself, a uniquely pervasive regional self-consciousness over what makes Southern culture different. Certainly no other American region has been so distinctly "marked" as the South has. Attempts to delineate the special mission, nature, problems, and virtues of Southern writers can be traced back at least to the 1830s, when editors called - with only slight success - for a sectional literature and more supportive Southern readers.