Saturday, January 19, 2008

The Lingering South

Today, on the birthday of Robert E. Lee, Paul Greenberg has written a beautiful essay at townhall.com on Lee and the Lingering South.
Here's part of what he says:
If the South is more than a geographic designation, if there is still a South worthy of the name, it is because myth continues to shape her, and Southerners may still be able to imagine what it is to be whole, all of a piece.
When Flannery O'Connor was asked why Southerners seem to have a penchant for writing about freaks, she would say: Because in the South we are still able to recognize a freak when we see one. To do that, one must have some idea of what wholeness would be.

Read the entire essay.

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