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

[@shivani41]

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.

[@jeremiahjones3010]

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

[@AuthorDocumentaries]

You're much welcome!

[@benzotheclown1148]

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

[@brendawood6712]

The greatest voice ever

[@jamesaritchie1]

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]

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

[@curtisthomson4209]

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

[@nativevirginian8344]

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

[@bethbartlett5692]

Nice insight share

[@cheri238]

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

[@TheSaltydog07]

Here looking for Flannery O'Connor.

[@narrative-meanderings]

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

[@mcraig1969]

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]

also Best Movie (with the Best Actors).

[@beyourself2444]

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]

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

[@PotterPossum1989]

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

[@melaniew4354]

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

[@jamesaritchie1]

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]

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

[@juleenarc7246]

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

[@mariabaumgartel766]

How about Flannery O’Connor?

[@speckledhen409]

Loved this documentary.

[@WGARVA]

This is MAGNIFICENT! Thank you so much.

[@gwae48]

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

[@meidassecondsoprano150]

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

[@2anthro]

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

[@doreekaplan2589]

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."

[@shelaghcoop]

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

[@bethbartlett5692]

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.

[@nigelmcclatchey4490]

Superb viewing.

[@zorkwhouse8125]

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]

It's right in description. Yes, 1999.

[@zorkwhouse8125]

@@noneofurbusiness5223 thank you

[@gregmurray1421]

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]

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

[@a.smm100]

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

[@tomdegan6924]

Eye-opening and excellent.

[@bethbartlett5692]

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

[@cheri238]

"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.

[@bethbartlett5692]

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

[@bethbartlett5692]

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.

[@bethbartlett5692]

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.

[@Shyfren]

Magnificent!

[@dawnyoung2294]

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 .

[@Rafael-oi6dj]

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

[@neslytrezile1093]

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?

[@dawnyoung2294]

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 .

[@giaatta9303]

Such a fabulous channel!

[@john.Locke1695]

Quick question, where do you get these documentaries from?

[@2livesleft]

Thank you!

[@marycahill546]

Thanks for posting!

[@user-gk5wo4ns1d]

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

[@timmyholland8510]

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

[@rharvey2124]

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

[@Poemsapennyeach]

Very interesting. Thanks

[@InsightsAbroad]

Here's what inspires me

[@Derplox]

How do you find these

[@AuthorDocumentaries]

I search through tapes at libraries and scour academic databases

[@Derplox]

@@AuthorDocumentaries thank you, keep up the great work

[@zharapatterson]

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

[@63artemisia63]

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

[@jamesaritchie1]

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]

@@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]

@@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 KZbin. I can't remember which one, I'm sorry to say.

[@ImBless-sj1kl]

Excellent ❤

[@gwae48]

great !!!!👌🏻. But pls add subtitles.

[@carfonju1018]

WONDERFUL

[@andreyarborough]

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

[@ImBless-sj1kl]

❤BLESS

[@lopamudraray4571]

May I know the name of the narrator please?

[@valmarsiglia]

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

[@marileesteele1804]

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.

[@mrminer071166]

Alas for the South!

[@bethbartlett5692]

38:21 Realism

[@noheroespublishing1907]

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

[@63artemisia63]

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

[@theoriginalmr.j1422]

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.

[@brian_nirvana]

4:15

[@veritas6335]

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.

[@nothaxcool]

a

[@Ken-ym4dv]

menken can kiss my foot

[@doreekaplan2589]

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.

[@katherenewedic8076]

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

[@shirleyredd6107]

I am a southern and I resent this crap