So what is Southern Gothic, you might ask?

The Southern Gothic theme can be read in some of the works of William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Flannery O’Conner and Eudora Welty. A short definition: Southern Gothic is a subgenre of Gothic fiction in American literature that takes place in the American South.

One of my favorites: Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” where there isn’t a rose at all, but a moody story about a beautiful your woman, who is psychologically damaged by an oppressed society, such as that of her small, southern town, not yet recovered from the Civil War. She lives in a war-torn, crumbling antebellum mansion, with her overbearing father. When love finally enters her life through the person of a handsome traveling salesman, Emily’s frail mental state goes into complete breakdown, thus the tragic story unravels.

I also like Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” This short story is about a family vacation, driving from Georgia to Florida. It was a time when extended family members piled into one car to make the excursion with packed lunches and sleeping mats. As the trip begins, the grandmother suggests instead of Florida, why not travel to east Tennessee. She explains that the children should know about their roots. After the grandmother rambles on about stories from her youth, the son agrees to head toward Tennessee and soon becomes lost on a deserted, dirt road. It is there that disaster falls upon the entire family by three men with weapons.

Then there is Eudora Welty’s “Death of a Traveling Salesman.” R. J. Bowman, the protagonist or main character in this story, has worked for a shoe company, traveling the state of Mississippi for fourteen years. He has many hours to think and remember old times, especially his childhood. As he drives the dusty roads, he realizes, too late, that his life has been just that, dusty roads. His weak attempts for relationships had fallen short. He is most comfortable behind the car wheel, witnessing others as they live their lives, yet he yearns “to communicate at a personal level, to let his heart be heard by another.” These are among his last thoughts as his car wrecks and his lonely heart ticks no longer.

Oh, I must mention one more, Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire.” The troubled character, Blanche Dubois, is proud of her “high-class upper society” upbringing. Although financially she (and the entire South) now lives hand-to-mouth, Blanche continues to live in the reverie of her young life, when she was a Southern Belle. Although she must live with her sister and brother-in-law, Blanche snubs the man whom she considers lowly. The arguments between Blanche and her brother-in-law become violent and her supposedly southern belle lifestyle is shattered by her shady past and need for alcohol.

No, I’m really not weird, not too much that is, but I enjoy a story when the ending is not always good, a story that teaches a lesson and the characters are not boring. If the setting of the story is in Mississippi, preferably 100 years ago, then this could be my short definition for Southern Gothic.

I have written several Southern Gothic themed stories, a few have been published and the others are still in the editing stage. My writer friends will understand the “editing stage.” That is when a written piece continues to be edited or changed until the moment the author presses the submit button. Sigh.

Also as a storyteller, I include the Southern Gothic genre in my repertoire, one of which I will perform this afternoon in DeKalb, MS. It is entitled “Sadie Nell Kitchens – Healer, Murderer or Survivor.”

Sadie Nell, my protagonist, begins life as a country girl with dreams of a loving husband, children and a farm. “When Sadie Nell, and husband Thrash, were first married, they dreamed of a sweet family and a farm of their own, where crops of corn and peas were plentiful and there was a fat hog to slaughter each fall.” And then the story makes an unexpected turn and enters the genre or category of Southern Gothic.

Yes, a good read for October is Southern Gothic.

Anne McKee is a Mississippi historian, writer and storyteller. She is listed on the Mississippi Humanities Speakers Bureau and Mississippi Arts Commission’s Performing Artist and Teaching Artist Rosters. See her web site: www.annemckeestoryteller.com