Best of the Oxford American: Ten Years from the Southern Magazine of Good Writing - Softcover

Smirnoff, Mark; Rick Bragg; Grisham, John; Bass, Rick; Brown, Larry; Blount Jr., Roy; Updike, John; Sontag, Susan; Martin, Steve; Tartt, Donna; Faulkner, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1588180816 ISBN 13: 9781588180810

Publisher: Hill Street Pr, 2002

Synopsis

A comprehensive anthology of The Oxford American's most memorable pieces published during the first decade of the magazine's existence, these articles prove provocative, opinionated, and irreverent. The Oxford American has served as an incubator and archive for the most promising and most established voices in contemporary Southern writing. It offers up an extraordinary range of perspectives on a multitude of subjects, while always avoiding the hackneyed notion of the South as the exclusive province of the gothic or the sentimental dominion of moonlight and magnolias. Collected here are the magazine's stellar fiction and poetry offered alongside its best commentary, profiles, photography, comics, and reporting on politics, history, religions, art, books, film, and humor.

About this title

About the Author

Marc Smirnoff is the founder and editor of The Oxford American. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi.

From Library Journal

Smirnoff introduced the Oxford American in spring 1992, arguing that it was "time for a good general magazine to originate from the South." His goals included publishing various forms of excellent writing for the intelligent, nonacademic general reader. One of the magazine's great strengths has been Smirnoff's willingness to publish largely unknown regional writers, many of whom have gone on to substantial careers. As this "best of" anthology shows, Smirnoff has successfully balanced an intriguing blend of commercial fiction (e.g., John Grisham, who underwrote the project for many years), unpublished manuscripts by Southern stalwarts (e.g., William Faulkner, Zora Neal Hurston, and Walker Percy), and commentary on Southern culture (John T. Edge, Roy Blount Jr., and Hal Crowther). Many of the selections are by noteworthy authors among them Grisham, Cythnia Shearer, Larry Brown, John Updike, John Grisham, Donna Tart, Barry Hannah, and Steve Yarbrough who have lived or set their work in Oxford, MS, the home of the Oxford American. The magazine has been both passionately praised and roundly criticized for its quirky approach to literature, and readers will probably have the same response to this well-crafted collection. Recommended for libraries with large collections of Southern literature and as demand warrants. Pam Kingsbury, Florence, AL
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hill Street Pr
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1588180816
• ISBN 13: 9781588180810
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320