Allen Mendenhall is the managing editor of the Southern Literary Review. Visit his website at AllenMendenhall.com.
Archives for May 2009
Junior Ray by John Pritchard
May 21, 2009 by
Review by Allen Mendenhall Reading John Pritchard’s Junior Ray is like sitting in a rocking chair, on the front porch, a beer in your hand, listening to some trash-talking, sheep-screwing redneck—Mr. Junior Ray Loveblood—ramble on about, well, whatever comes to mind. Junior Ray is the racist, rascally protagonist of this explosive little novel, which, […]
Interview with Paulette Jiles
May 15, 2009 by 2 Comments
Read Paulette Jiles Profile SLR: When did you first start writing stories? When did you know you wanted to spend you life writing? PJ: I think I was eleven. I wrote an adventure story. Wrote it out by hand and drew illustrations for it. Writing was all I ever wanted to do other than live […]
Interview with Michael Lee West
May 15, 2009 by 2 Comments
Read Michael Lee West’s Profile SLR: Where were you born and raised? West: I was born in Lake Providence, Louisiana, raised in New Orleans and Cookeville, Tennessee. I spent much of my childhood in southern Mississippi, coastal and rural. My parents (and their parents) were native Mississippians. SLR: What are you thoughts on where you […]
Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson
May 14, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Joshilyn Jackson’s “Between, Georgia” reminds us that we are not lonely people. No matter where our lives take us, our families will follow. When we meet our narrator, Nonny Jane, she is recounting the story of her birth and simultaneously introducing us to a small town family feud that will grow up with her. Born […]
Deep Family: Four Centuries of American Originals and Southern Eccentrics by Nicholas Cabell Read and Dallas Read
May 14, 2009 by Leave a Comment
If you were asked to imagine an ongoing chronicle of life in the American South from the late 1600’s through the 1970’s, you might picture snapshots of agriculture, slavery, the Civil War and segregation. Nicholas and Dallas Reed’s “Deep Family” offers a different take on Southern life as it was experienced by three, progressive, wealthy […]