The Southern Renaissance was the reinvigoration of American Southern literature that began in the 1920s and 1930s with the appearance of writers such as William Faulkner, Caroline Gordon, Katherine Anne Porter, Allen Tate, Tennessee Williams, and Robert Penn Warren, among others. Southern literature (sometimes called the Literature of the American South) is defined as American literature about the Southern United States or by writers from this region. ... The 1920s were a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... William Faulkner photographed 1954 by Carl Van Vechten William Cuthbert Faulkner (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was a Nobel Prize-winning novelist from Mississippi. ... Caroline Ferguson Gordon 1895-1981 Her early novels of southern history: Penhally (1931), None Shall Look Back (1937), and The Garden of Adonis (1937). ... Katherine Ann Porter (15 May 1890 - 18 September 1980) was a celebrated American journalist, essayist, short story writer and novelist. ... John Orley Allen Tate (November 19, 1899 - February 9, 1979) was an American poet, essayist, and social commentator, and Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, 1943 - 1944. ... Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1914 – February 25, 1983), better known by the pen name Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright and one of the prominent playwriters in the twentieth century. ... Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 - September 15, 1989) was an American poet and novelist. ...

Prior to this renaissance, Southern writers tended to focus on historical romances about the "Lost Cause" of the South's Civil War defeat and the "idyllic culture" that existed before the war (known as the Antebellum South). While some Southerners, such as African American writer Charles W. Chesnutt, dismissed this view as nostalgia by pointing out the blatant racism and exploitation of blacks at that time, the belief in the South's "Lost Cause" was a driving force in Southern literature until World War I. Lost Cause is an album by Jandek (1992). ... Combatants United States of America Confederate States of America Commanders Abraham Lincoln† Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis Robert E. Lee Strength 2,213,363 1,064,200 Casualties KIA: 110,100 Total dead: 359,500 Wounded: 275,200 KIA: 94,000 Total dead: 258,000 Wounded: 137,000+  The American... Antebellum is a Latin word meaning before the war. In United States history and historiography Antebellum is sometimes used instead of the term pre_Civil War, especially in the South. ... The Color Purple by Alice Walker African American literature is literature written by, about, and sometimes specifically for African Americans. ... Charles W. Chesnutt at the age of 40 Charles Waddell Chesnutt (June 20, 1858 – November 15, 1932) was an African American author and political activist best known for novels and short stories exploring racism and other social themes. ... Southern literature (sometimes called the Literature of the American South) is defined as American literature about the Southern United States or by writers from this region. ... Combatants Allies: • Serbia, • Russia, • France, • Romania, • Belgium, • British Empire and Dominions, • United States, • Italy, • ...and others Central Powers: • Germany, • Austria-Hungary, • Ottoman Empire, • Bulgaria Casualties Military dead: 5 million Civilian dead: 3 million Total: 8 million Full list Military dead: 3 million Civilian dead: 3 million Total: 6 million Full...

The writers of the Southern Renaissance changed this by addressing three major themes in their works. The first was the burden of history in a place where many people still remembered slavery, reconstruction, and a devastating military defeat. The second theme was to focus on the South's conservative culture, specifically on how an individual could exist without losing a sense of identity in a region where family, religion, and community were more highly valued than one's personal and social life. The final theme that the renaissance writers approached was the South's troubled history in regards to racial issues. Slavery is a condition in which one person, known as a slave, is under the control of another. ... Reconstruction-era military districts in the South For other uses, see Reconstruction (disambiguation). ... Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ...

Because of these writers' distance from the Civil War and slavery, they were able to bring more objectivity to writings about the South. They also brought new modernistic techniques such as stream of consciousness and complex narrative techniques to their works (as Faulkner did in his novel As I Lay Dying). Modernism is a cultural movement that generally includes the progressive art and architecture, music, literature and design which emerged in the decades before 1914. ... In psychology and philosophy stream of consciousness, introduced by William James, is the set of constantly changing inner thoughts and sensations which an individual has while conscious, used as a synonym for stream of thought. ... As I Lay Dying is a novel published in 1930 and written by William Faulkner, one of the most notable American novelists of the twentieth century. ...

Among the writers of the Southern Renaissance, William Faulkner is arguably the most influential and famous, having won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949. William Faulkner photographed 1954 by Carl Van Vechten William Cuthbert Faulkner (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was a Nobel Prize-winning novelist from Mississippi. ... The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words of Alfred Nobel, produced the most outstanding work of an idealistic tendency. The work in this case generally refers to an authors work as a whole, not to any individual... 1949 (MCMXLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday. ...

Many Southern writers of the 1940s, '50s, and '60s were inspired by the writers of the Southern Renaissance, including Reynolds Price, James Dickey, Walker Percy, Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, and Harper Lee (whose novel To Kill a Mockingbird won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and is considered by many to be the greatest Southern novel of the 20th century), along with many others. Reynolds Price Reynolds Price (born February 1, 1933) is an award-winning U.S. novelist, poet, dramatist, essayist and James B. Duke Professor of English at Duke University [1]. Apart from English literature, Price has had a lifelong interest in ancient languages and biblical scholarship. ... James Dickey (February 2, 1923 – January 19, 1997) was a popular United States poet and novelist. ... Walker Percy (May 28, 1916 - May 10, 1990) was an American author, born in Birmingham, Alabama. ... Eudora Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was born in Jackson, Mississippi and she lived a significant portion of her life in the citys Belhaven neighborhood, where her home has been preserved. ... Mary Flannery OConnor (March 25, 1925 – August 3, 1964) was an American author. ... Carson McCullers, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1959 Carson McCullers (February 19, 1917 – September 29, 1967) was an American writer. ... Harper Lee (born Nelle Harper Lee on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama) is an American novelist, best known for her 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird. ... To Kill a Mockingbird is a 1960 novel by Harper Lee, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. ... The gold medal awarded for Public Service in Journalism The Pulitzer Prize is an American award regarded as the highest honor in print journalism, literary achievements, and musical compositions. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

See also

• African American literature
• Southern Gothic
• Southern literature