While the term "Southern Gothic" may bring to mind Carson McCullers and Flannery O'Connor, there are writers working now that are of close if not equal quality. What is Southern Gothic? Along with occurring south of the Mason-Dixon Line, it often concerns misfits, creepy situations, and sinister events caused by poverty, violence, or faults in the characters' psyche. So pull up a rocking chair and pour yourself an iced tea and prepare to be transported.
Brad Watson is a keen observer, both of the natural and psychological realms. His first novel, Miss Jane, is a fictional meditation on the life of his great aunt, who never married in a time and place where it was almost compulsory. Miss Jane Chisholm is born in 1915 Mercury, Mississippi, with vaginal agenesis and an intelligent, curious brain. Jane charms pretty much everyone around her who isn't family, most especially the country doctor who delivers her and never stops hoping for a "cure" for her condition. While there's not much drama, Watson's descriptions of both psychological and natural phenomena are what appealed to me, along with the well-drawn characters.
Blue Asylum by Kathy Hepinstall takes a look at another Southern female misfit, this time, during the Civil War. Iris Dunleavy is committed to an insane asylum on Sanibel Island by her husband because she tries to escape his plantation with a group of slaves. Watched over by a well-meaning but arrogant doctor, Iris falls for Ambrose, a Confederate veteran suffering from what we would now call PTSD. Joined by the doctor's adolescent son, the three plot their escape. While there is certainly more incident than in Miss Jane, this is another lyrical, character-driven book with lots of atmosphere.
Donna Tartt preceded The Goldfinch with The Little Friend, which takes the Gothic in Southern Gothic seriously. Harriet's nine-year-old brother was murdered when she was a baby, and it destroyed her family. Hoping to restore the familial equilibrium sensed only in photographs, twelve-year-old Harriet appoints herself judge, jury, and executioner of the man she suspects of the deed. Evidence is not necessary for Harriet to exact vengeance, and the novel moves at a thriller's pace towards the climax. Once again, we see well-drawn characters and sensual detail in a stylistically complex novel.
Got authors I could add? Want to talk about the masters of the genre? Please join the conversation in the Comments section.
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