Pattern of a Man and Other Stories

Published in 2001 by Gnomon Press

This reissue of a 1976 collection, featuring a new afterword by Wendell Berry, showcases James Still’s enduring mastery of the short story form. Set in the Appalachian region, these twelve stories reflect the rhythms, dialects, and deep-rooted traditions of mountain life, rendered with quiet power and poetic precision.

Still’s characters―rural craftsmen, widows, children, and wanderers―navigate the complexities of isolation, kinship, and survival. Stories like “The Nest,” “The Scrape,” and “Maybird Upshaw” reveal a landscape both stark and tender, where the natural world and human spirit intertwine. With language shaped by the unique dialect of eastern Kentucky, Still’s prose honors the dignity of his subjects without sentimentality or condescension.

This collection affirms Still’s place among the great chroniclers of American regional life, offering readers a poignant and authentic portrait of a vanishing world.

James Still (1906–2001) was born on Double Creek in Alabama, one of ten children. For most of his life he lived in a log house at the forks of Troublesome and Wolfpen Creeks in Knott County, Kentucky. The unique native dialect of the Kentucky mountains informs the language of all his stories. He is the author of River of Earth and received two Guggenheim Fellowships and many awards.