With contributions from 114 authors-including three pieces by editor Blount (First Hubby) himself-this notable anthology offers a cornucopia of humor that, however loosely, can be associated with things "'Southern." Old masters represented here include Mark Twain, William Faulkner, O. Henry, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Joel Chandler Harris, Tennessee Williams and Edgar Allen Poe (whose contribution, the short story "X-ing a Paragrab," may surprise many). Luminaries among their heirs apparent are Tom Wolfe, Dave Barry, Harry Crews, Molly Ivins, Russell Baker and many more, while numbering among the less well-known contributors are Ferrol Sams, Bailey White, William Price Fox and Sarah Gilbert. The special treat here is the unexpected material collected from some rather offbeat sources: Julian Bond, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Brother Dave Gardner. Inexplicably, however, Blount passes over Lewis Grizzard, while giving six slots to Jerry Clower, and dismisses Carl Hiaasen by claiming that his novels "resist excerpting." Also snubbed are the likes of T.R. Pearson, Fanny Flagg and Olive Ann Burns. Even with these glaring lapses, though, this generous volume deserves serious consideration as a holiday gift for the eclectic-or Dixie-minded-reader.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Southern humorist Blount brings together here a collection of mirthful writings from his native region. Close to 150 selections from 114 writers run the gamut of genres from essays to country/western lyrics. Authors, many of whom are not generally considered humorists, range from Edgar Allen Poe to Dave Barry. Some readers might quibble with Blount's choices (Garrison Keillor in a book of Southern humor, Lewis Grizzard left out?), but that is always a compiler's cross to bear. Others who find reading stories highly laced with dialect about as easygoing as studying the Upanishads in the original Vedic might have problems with several of these works. Still, there is something here for everyone. Recommended for regional and large humor collections.
Jim Burns, Otummwa, Iowa
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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