Bloodroot Reflections on Place by Appalachian Women Writers

For more than 150 years, writers from Appalachia, especially women writers, have lived on the margins of American literature. But, as the essays in this volume and the cumulative work of their authors suggest, it is long past time for us to welcome Appalachian women writers to the full light of public appreciation.Joyce Dyer's impressive collection includes the reflections of thirty-five Appalachian literary women. Some names are familiar, others less so, but in essays that often veer into poetry, all address the influence of region on their writing.In Bloodroot these women define Appalachia in a larger, more generous, and more intricate way than it has been defined before, dispelling many demeaning stereotypes of the region. The writers tell their compelling stories with poignancy, eloquence, forthrightness, and humor.A new American literary renaissance is ablaze in the Southern Highlands -- the very hills so often depicted by outsiders as dimly lit.

Listed under Literary Criticism · American · Biography & Autobiography · Literary Figures