But Now I See: The White Southern Racial Conversion Narrative Book

Students of Southern culture, pre- and postmodern, might prefer to assemble a year's worth of dulce et utile reading from LSU Press' excellent Southern Literary Studies series, edited by Fred Hobson. His own contribution, BUT NOW I SEE: THE WHITE SOUTHERN RACIAL CONVERSION NARRATIVE, draws some brilliant parallels between the writings of Willie Morris and Lillian Smith, to name two of Hobson's subjects, and those of 17th-century New England Puritans like Cotton Mather and Jonathan Edwards. Last year saw the publication of two more books in the series: THE LEGACY OF ROBERT PENN WARREN, a collection of variously authored essays edited by David Madden, and SEWANEE WRITERS ON WRITING, edited by Wyatt Prunty.














(originally published in the NASHVILLE SCENE)