Postregional Fictions: Barry Hannah and the Challenges of Southern Studies

Postregional Fictions by Clare Chadd examines southern regional authenticity in Barry Hannah's fiction from 1972 to 2001, challenging established conceptual understandings of the U.S. South. Chadd argues that Hannah's writing locates a productive terrain between the local and the global, revealing the region in a process of mythmaking, dialogue, and performance. She suggests that notions of the South and southernness might survive deconstructive approaches, showing how the regional and the global exist and flourish in tandem.

Format: Hardback
Length: 300 pages
Publication date: 07 July 2021
Publisher: Louisiana State University Press

Drawing from recent debates about the validity of regional studies and skepticism surrounding the efficacy of the concept of authenticity, Clare Chadd's Postregional Fictions delves into the examination of southern regional authenticity in fiction published by Barry Hannah from 1972 to 2001. The first monograph on the Mississippi author's work to appear since his death, this study explores the ways in which Hannah's novels and short stories challenge established conceptual understandings of the U.S. South.

Hannah's writing is characterized by a rich tapestry of metafictional elements, which complicate the purported sense of southernness his stories dramatize. Through this self-reflexive approach, he questions the fundamental importance of a sense of place, suggesting that it has always been constructed and performed. Such texts establish a productive terrain between the local and the global, with particular relevance for critical apprehensions of the post-South and postsouthern literature. Offering sustained close readings of selected stories, particularly focusing on Hannah's late work, Chadd argues that his fiction reveals a region in constant flux, characterized by mythmaking, dialogue, and performance.

In turn, Chadd utilizes Hannah's work to suggest how notions of the South and southernness might survive the various deconstructive approaches leveled against them in recent decades of southern studies scholarship. Rather than perceiving an impasse between the regional and the global, Chadd's reading of Hannah demonstrates the coexistence and flourishing of these two elements in tandem.

In Postregional Fictions, Chadd offers a fresh interpretation of Hannah by recognizing the significant interplay between southern and postmodern elements in his work. By delving into this intersection, she sheds light on the ways in which Hannah's fiction subverts traditional narratives and explores the complexities of identity, place, and culture in the South. Through her meticulous analysis, Chadd provides a valuable contribution to the study of southern literature, offering new insights and perspectives that challenge our understanding of the region and its literary legacy.

Weight: 576g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780807174937