A Southern Life: Letters of Paul Green, 1916-1981 (Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern Studies) - Hardcover

9780807821053: A Southern Life: Letters of Paul Green, 1916-1981 (Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern Studies)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807821055 ISBN 13: 9780807821053

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 1994

This exceptional collection provides new insight into the life of North Carolina writer and activist Paul Green (1894-1981), the first southern playwright to attract international acclaim for his socially conscious dramas. Green, who taught philosophy and drama at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1927 for In Abraham's Bosom, an authentic drama of black life. Among his other Broadway productions were Native Son and Johnny Johnson. From the 1930s onward, Green created fifteen outdoor historical productions known as symphonic dramas, thereby inventing a distinctly American theater form. These include The Lost Colony (1937), which is still performed today. Laurence Avery has selected and annotated the 329 letters in this volume from over 9,000 existing pieces. The letters, to such figures as Sherwood Anderson, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, John Dos Passos, Zora Neale Hurston, and others interested in the arts and human rights in the South, are alive with the intellect, buoyant spirit, and sensitivity to the human condition that made Green such an inspiring force in the emerging New South. Avery's introduction and full bibliography of the playwright's works and first productions give readers a context for understanding Green's life and times.

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Book Description:

"The letters unfold like a strand of fine pearls, taking their place alongside other collected editions such as the Selected Letters of William Faulkner . . . in providing insights into the mind of a great artist and into the affairs of his region."-- Journal of Southern History

From the Back Cover:

This exceptional collection provides new insight into the life and works of North Carolina writer and activist Paul Green (1894-1981), the first playwright from the South to attract national and international attention for his socially conscious dramas. A native of Harnett County, Green was a devoted teacher of philosophy and drama at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He became a leading member of the generation of writers who launched the southern literary renaissance and played a significant role in creating an authentic drama of black life, winning the Pulitzer Prize for his play In Abraham's Bosom in 1927. From the 1930s until his death in 1981, he devoted much of his energy to the outdoor historical plays he called symphonic dramas, including his longest-running work, The Lost Colony (1937), which is one of several of his plays still performed before large audiences today. Concern for human rights characterized Green's life as well as his plays, and his efforts on behalf of the poor and uneducated led him to advocate the abolition of chain gangs and capital punishment. His crusades were an important contribution to the broader social developments fundamental to the emerging New South in the first half of this century. Laurence Avery has culled and annotated the 329 letters in this volume from over 9,000 existing pieces. Letters to such figures as Sherwood Anderson, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, John Dos Passos, and Zora Neale Hurston appear throughout. Avery's introduction and full bibliography of the playwright's works and productions give readers a context for understanding Green's life and times. Carl Sandburg called Green "one of the best talkers in theU.S.A". and for Green, letters were just another form of conversation. They are alive with the intellect, buoyant spirit, and sensitivity to the human condition that enabled him to become such a powerful force in his day.

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