Southern Literature documentary | 1915 - 1940

In his 1917 essay, “The Sahara of the Bozart,” H. L. Mencken berated the American South for its artistic and cultural poverty. Within a decade, however, his assertions had become irrelevant. This program depicts the rapid development of Southern American literature during the first half of the 20th century. It explores the work of William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, Zora Neale Hurston, Jean Toomer, Erskine Caldwell, Margaret Mitchell, John Crowe Ransom, and others. Dramatized readings help to illuminate passages from Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Toomer’s Cane, Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!, Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel, and Ransom’s poem, “Bells for John Whiteside’s Daughter.” A part of the series Voices in Black and White: The History of Modern Southern Literature. (81 minutes)
1999

Пікірлер: 85

  • @benzotheclown1148
    @benzotheclown114811 ай бұрын

    38:39 Mr. Shelby Foote and his cat are precious 😂 I was happy to see him included. A great author himself.

  • @brendawood6712

    @brendawood6712

    9 ай бұрын

    The greatest voice ever

  • @jeremiahjones3010
    @jeremiahjones30102 жыл бұрын

    I saw this is college in 2006 and have been searching for it ever since!!! Thank you so much!

  • @AuthorDocumentaries

    @AuthorDocumentaries

    2 жыл бұрын

    You're much welcome!

  • @shivani41
    @shivani41 Жыл бұрын

    What a treasure chest. The exploration of magnificent southern writers given here has collected so many of the voices and faces of authors who are beloved (by me.) So beautiful. So dreamy and gritty. What an experience to receive! I love every second of it. It is bringing so much back to life, again revisited, again appreciative, beyond what words will say. edited to remember to say thank you for food for the soul.

  • @jamesaritchie1
    @jamesaritchie1 Жыл бұрын

    Erskine Caldwell showed me the road a writer should take to get where he wants to go, Thomas Wolfe taught me where stories are born. Margaret Mitchel taught me how to use memories of other to build a great story. I know he died a few years before this period, but rightfully, Mark Twain should be considered the best writer ever to come out of the south. He isn't because he didn't tell stories that were all emotion. So he is merely considered the American writer who taught every other American novelist how to write, and the greatest writer the country as a whole has ever produced. He certain taught me more about language, about humor with a dark undertone, and made me more money than any other writer. But this is true for every would-be writer who ever read him, whether they know it or not. So many great southern writers. It's amazing. The wide south, the open south, and the narrow, short, constricted northeast produced an inordinate number of great writers in the first two hundred years of this country's existence. Maybe this is still true today. Or would be, if ninety percent of the population weren't zombies unable to look away from their phones long enough to live.

  • @tonirose6776

    @tonirose6776

    Жыл бұрын

    You're a writer. What else may we read of yours?

  • @curtisthomson4209

    @curtisthomson4209

    Жыл бұрын

    I suspect Twain isn’t included in this documentary as he is native to Missouri, which isn’t widely considered southern but midwestern.

  • @nativevirginian8344

    @nativevirginian8344

    Жыл бұрын

    I consider Twain the greatest writer of the 19th century, and Faulkner of the twentieth. I consider them both Southerners.

  • @bethbartlett5692

    @bethbartlett5692

    8 ай бұрын

    Nice insight share

  • @narrative-meanderings
    @narrative-meanderings8 ай бұрын

    thank you for your efforts. this is a good overview of Southern literature. in its depth Southern literature reminds me of Russian literature.

  • @cheri238
    @cheri238 Жыл бұрын

    This was a wonderful documentary, I am now listening again as I did not leave a comment several months back.

  • @TheSaltydog07
    @TheSaltydog078 ай бұрын

    Here looking for Flannery O'Connor.

  • @mcraig1969
    @mcraig1969 Жыл бұрын

    Very sad the producer and narrator stated that Margaret Mitchell did not receive any prize for her masterpiece as she won the National Book Award for Most Distinguished Novel of 1936 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937.

  • @gwae48

    @gwae48

    Жыл бұрын

    also Best Movie (with the Best Actors).

  • @beyourself2444

    @beyourself2444

    8 ай бұрын

    The West Indian Harlem blacks were more progressive than the African American Harlem blacks who were extremely colorist and placed mixed race and whites on a pedastal

  • @doreekaplan2589

    @doreekaplan2589

    7 ай бұрын

    She only wrote 1 book. Can't call her an author, more a person who once wrote a book

  • @PotterPossum1989

    @PotterPossum1989

    6 ай бұрын

    ​@@doreekaplan2589let's see you write one book and then get it published and read by millions. Dismissed.

  • @meidassecondsoprano150
    @meidassecondsoprano1507 ай бұрын

    I loved this documentary! Thank you so much!❤❤❤

  • @melaniew4354
    @melaniew43542 жыл бұрын

    This was very good, but not nearly enough Tennessee Williams. He barely gets 1 minute. That's very unfortunate.

  • @jamesaritchie1

    @jamesaritchie1

    Жыл бұрын

    Several of my favorite writers are given brief mention it the final segment with Tennessee Williams. It's a shame because all these writers deserve much longer dives into their lives. That is a serious flaw with this documentary.

  • @matthewgordonpettipas6773

    @matthewgordonpettipas6773

    Жыл бұрын

    This channel has a video dedicated to Williams (in case you might have missed it).

  • @juleenarc7246

    @juleenarc7246

    9 ай бұрын

    There is a whole video of about an hour dedicated to Tennessee Williams.

  • @mariabaumgartel766

    @mariabaumgartel766

    Ай бұрын

    How about Flannery O’Connor?

  • @a.smm100
    @a.smm1003 ай бұрын

    Thank you for your beautiful channel and efforts! You're doing a great job!!! Also, Please subtitles!

  • @speckledhen409
    @speckledhen4099 ай бұрын

    Loved this documentary.

  • @gwae48
    @gwae48 Жыл бұрын

    Really really good !!!! Enjoying it even more 2nd time. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

  • @neslytrezile1093
    @neslytrezile10938 ай бұрын

    Great doc. Would be great if links to author's works were included in the description. The video and folk song clips at Zora's part would be perfect. Is the clip at 1:00:31 mark a play?

  • @2anthro
    @2anthro Жыл бұрын

    To see how Faulkner did indeed write about every race in 1 story please read his short story Mountain Victory.

  • @tomdegan6924
    @tomdegan6924 Жыл бұрын

    Eye-opening and excellent.

  • @nigelmcclatchey4490
    @nigelmcclatchey44902 жыл бұрын

    Superb viewing.

  • @giaatta9303
    @giaatta9303 Жыл бұрын

    Such a fabulous channel!

  • @zorkwhouse8125
    @zorkwhouse81252 жыл бұрын

    Was this made in 1999? The interviews look like they are significantly older than that - maybe 1970's or 1980's, but the narration sounds more like it could be from 1999? I'm just curious, its really neat to see these older writers who are probably all gone by the present day.

  • @noneofurbusiness5223

    @noneofurbusiness5223

    2 жыл бұрын

    It's right in description. Yes, 1999.

  • @zorkwhouse8125

    @zorkwhouse8125

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@noneofurbusiness5223 thank you

  • @marycahill546
    @marycahill546 Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for posting!

  • @bethbartlett5692
    @bethbartlett56928 ай бұрын

    Faulkner's life could have been made into a movie, with Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor, like "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof".

  • @doreekaplan2589
    @doreekaplan25897 ай бұрын

    Many great writers, etc way with words, never complete public school. Rather get a far better education through self directed reading. My son told his mom, " I learned everything I know from you an Dad, nothing from school."

  • @john.Locke1695
    @john.Locke169526 күн бұрын

    Quick question, where do you get these documentaries from?

  • @bethbartlett5692
    @bethbartlett56928 ай бұрын

    8:54 Excellent Quotes. *The Civil War ideologies remain in the Southern Condciousness. Required a History and Sociology degree and Experiencing living in the South to understand the various layers and levels, can understand but don't endorse it, and I find it stll often perplexes me. I dont understand the desires to ignore so much to hold a political corner. The South remains, a living artifact, a Center for the Sociology and Behavioralism Studies. Wish they would get to a clarity of diagnosing and offering opportunity for healing. We are Souls having a Life Journey in a Human Vessel. Know the Soul, resilve the Lower Human Mind's low frequency experiences.

  • @Shyfren
    @Shyfren Жыл бұрын

    Magnificent!

  • @bethbartlett5692
    @bethbartlett56928 ай бұрын

    In the efforts to blur the Socioeconomic and Ethnic lines in 20th Century USA, we seem to have erased the Individual value of "Ladies and Gentlemen", the Etiquette, Dignity, and Integrity, that once was Realized as Personal Self Respect Respect for Others, and a Value of Polite Society, real and plesant, not a separating line of 1st, 2nd, 3rd Class. It lasted through to the 1990's yet has so faded in the 21st iCentury, it's like a garment no longer worn. (I know the greatest Host of its opposite are the 24hr Cable Mainstream News and their subsidiarie, fostering of Lower Mind and it low vibe frequency.) Beth Bartlett Sociologist/Behavioralist and Historian

  • @Poemsapennyeach
    @Poemsapennyeach Жыл бұрын

    Very interesting. Thanks

  • @gwae48
    @gwae48 Жыл бұрын

    great !!!!👌🏻. But pls add subtitles.

  • @bethbartlett5692
    @bethbartlett56928 ай бұрын

    New Albany, Mississippi is between Memphis, Tennessee and Tupelo, Mississippi. Was famous in the 1970's and 80's for the Vaserette Outlet, Ladies lingerie, the Factory must have been nearby. A student at "University of Memphis" in the era of the 80's, it was a treat for such great prices.

  • @shelaghcoop
    @shelaghcoop10 ай бұрын

    Why oh why is there a need to have music in the background which almost drowns out the speaker

  • @carfonju1018
    @carfonju1018 Жыл бұрын

    WONDERFUL

  • @2livesleft
    @2livesleft4 ай бұрын

    Thank you!

  • @Derplox
    @Derplox3 жыл бұрын

    How do you find these

  • @AuthorDocumentaries

    @AuthorDocumentaries

    3 жыл бұрын

    I search through tapes at libraries and scour academic databases

  • @Derplox

    @Derplox

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@AuthorDocumentaries thank you, keep up the great work

  • @zharapatterson

    @zharapatterson

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@AuthorDocumentaries I wish there was a documentary on Carson McCullers. Is there any video info on her?

  • @dawnyoung2294
    @dawnyoung22949 ай бұрын

    The best teacher I’ve had of history has honest to god been doing my ancestry . I thought I knew it because my grandfather had done is ! What a fool ! Even better I’ve discovered that just knowing the names does nothing . Being able to Google the name dates and places in time , is our real history . Then you figure out whose history you were taught ! It’s time to reimagine education .

  • @bethbartlett5692
    @bethbartlett56928 ай бұрын

    Hard to imagine "a Poet" as an option of Profession, also Philosopher, ... a subject that intrigues me as a Sociologist/Behavioralist and Historian., also with a degree in Journalism. lol, my Alma Mater is: University of Memphis 🐾 Memphis, Tennessee A Chicago born Irish girl, Northside Raised in NW Tennessee (Moderate Liberal) South, just never preferred choice environment. There are some traditions that are worthy, the denial and attitude are what I find sour.

  • @dawnyoung2294
    @dawnyoung22949 ай бұрын

    Well , I’m thankful to have grown up Tennessee Williams , and mark Twain ? Hello ? Anybody that thinks the south is devoid of art is a fool with bad taste . And I’m from Springfield Illinois ! It was the battle hymn of the republic that was played at Lincoln’s funeral for another . My family settled the east , then the south , then the Midwest , then the west ! Canada to Alabama the French Canadians . The PBS documentary about country music would school them .

  • @ImBless-sj1kl
    @ImBless-sj1kl10 ай бұрын

    Excellent ❤

  • @Rafael-oi6dj
    @Rafael-oi6dj7 ай бұрын

    The greatest of them all was Thomas Wolfe Reading his books is just delightful, pure poetry all covered in showering prosa He was supposed to receive(post humously) the Nobel prize & not Faulkner, which shows the political nature of the institution from its beginnings

  • @gregmurray1421
    @gregmurray14218 ай бұрын

    Just read Look Homeward, Angel a couple of months ago. The film is right that Wolfe was obsessive of communicating every emotion he ever felt. That is fine for the writer, but extremely tiresome for the reader. So, that made this book the most excrutiating experience of reading I have ever had.

  • @alanaadams7440

    @alanaadams7440

    6 ай бұрын

    I feel this way about "The Sound and the Furry" just couldn't get thru it

  • @ImBless-sj1kl
    @ImBless-sj1kl10 ай бұрын

    ❤BLESS

  • @lopamudraray4571
    @lopamudraray4571 Жыл бұрын

    May I know the name of the narrator please?

  • @timmyholland8510
    @timmyholland8510 Жыл бұрын

    I was surprised by the comments on Robert Frost. How is it that a poet express an ignorant view about people?

  • @rharvey2124

    @rharvey2124

    Жыл бұрын

    Think it is called insular arrogance........

  • @cheri238
    @cheri2385 ай бұрын

    "I do not want the peace which passeth understanding, I want the understanding which bringeth peace." Helen Keller Soar bellowing birds, Flying not with red or blue colors of flags unveiling torrents of lies in hearts scattered in duel mists. Pouncing, pounding, flogging, the Great Empires of antiquities. Marching bands of ghosts thrust today before our eyes. Cindered with flames of open skies of bombing and deaths. Bones of ladled soups eaten with a white eagle's eyes. Hoovering, climbing, kneeling, and bowing our world efforts to relieve this untold suffering. No more wars for profits of greed. Racism is ignorance. Grace with mercy abounds.

  • @63artemisia63
    @63artemisia632 жыл бұрын

    Wonder why nobody mentioned Faulkner’s decades of heavy drinking as a major factor in his burnout?

  • @jamesaritchie1

    @jamesaritchie1

    Жыл бұрын

    Because in his case the heavy drinking is what stopped him from burning out many years earlier. The only way he could deal with the world of famer was to drink early and often.

  • @63artemisia63

    @63artemisia63

    Жыл бұрын

    @@jamesaritchie1 Ah, the tortured artist myth. He may have thought that and you may think that but actually the reverse is true: He would have been able to write longer if he hadn’t self-medicated with alcohol. That’s because of the massive amount of brain tissue/cells destroyed by alcohol, even in people who drink for relatively short periods. Based on decades of research, we’ve known about horrific alcohol-related physiological and psychological damage for at least 25 years, probably longer.

  • @Ellie49

    @Ellie49

    2 ай бұрын

    @@63artemisia63 Interestingly, Shelby Foote did not believe that Faulkner was a particularly heavy drinker. He explained his reasons in some interview I came across on KZread. I can't remember which one, I'm sorry to say.

  • @andreyarborough
    @andreyarborough5 ай бұрын

    4:10 6:55 17:50 43:46

  • @user-gk5wo4ns1d
    @user-gk5wo4ns1dАй бұрын

    Very informative, I didn't know the southern black writers became as world famous as the non-black ones like Faulkner.

  • @brian22067
    @brian22067 Жыл бұрын

    4:15

  • @mrminer071166
    @mrminer071166 Жыл бұрын

    Alas for the South!

  • @marileesteele1804
    @marileesteele1804 Жыл бұрын

    Cotton, hard to imagine such a large geographic mass of land & people being so committed & beholden to one dumb unsustainable, depleting plant - economic mono culture & scale in extreme! There’s something wrong with this picture (simplistic) that it could survive at its center (so we are told) for decades.

  • @noheroespublishing1907
    @noheroespublishing19072 жыл бұрын

    "Southern literature is (meow! meow!) You see, William Faulkner (meow! meow!) Goddamn it, get out of here."

  • @63artemisia63

    @63artemisia63

    2 жыл бұрын

    @no heroe… Yeah, I already thought Foote was a pompous arse and the cat flinging just sealed the deal.

  • @theoriginalmr.j1422

    @theoriginalmr.j1422

    8 ай бұрын

    Sterling Brown, Arna Bontemps, John Oliver Killens, Margaret Walker, Maya Angelou, William Wells Brown, Alice Childress, Ernest Gaines, Mel B. Tolson, Richard Wright, Nikki Giovanni, Joseph S. Cotter, Sr., George Moses Horton and so on.

  • @nothaxcool1582
    @nothaxcool15822 жыл бұрын

    a

  • @valmarsiglia
    @valmarsiglia7 ай бұрын

    Sounds like they got an Englishman or Northerner to voice Faulkner. He didn't sound like that at all.

  • @doreekaplan2589
    @doreekaplan258911 ай бұрын

    While i get the desire of bks to somehow stand out, no other group makes an issue, pushing themselves in the rest of our faces with insisting that others must agree they get inordinate attention BECAUSE of a hue of a common shared organ.

  • @Ken-ym4dv
    @Ken-ym4dv10 ай бұрын

    menken can kiss my foot

  • @veritas6335
    @veritas63358 ай бұрын

    The music is WAY overdone. Hugely irritating and very distracting. There's some interesting stuff here, but a lot of it is drowned out by an I'll conceived music track.

  • @katherenewedic8076
    @katherenewedic8076 Жыл бұрын

    Jfc WHAT IS WITH THE F MUSIC? JUST DRIVE PEOPLE TO F*** AWAY FROM WATCHING IT

  • @shirleyredd6107
    @shirleyredd61076 ай бұрын

    I am a southern and I resent this crap