New York Times Atlanta correspondent Peter Applebome reads from and discusses his book Dixie Rising: How the South Is Shaping American Values, Politics and Culture. He addresses the many attempts at defining the South and Southerners and discusses race and labor history.
Dixie Rising
Farewell, I’m Bound to Leave You
Fred Chappell reads from and discusses Farewell, I’m Bound to Leave You, third in a proposed quartet of books set in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The stories depict strong-spirited, courageous women passing their legacy of history and family to the next generation of young men. At the time of this interview, Chappell taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
The Heroic Couplet; Children’s Literature (originally aired as Kids and Couplets)
Paul Hunter [NHC Fellow 1985-86, 1995-96] describes the heroic couplet–“its rhyme, its reason, its artistic and ideological functions in English literature.” [Wayne Pond]
Ulrich Knoepflmacher [NHC Fellow 1995-96] “talks about children’s literature and ‘cross-writing’ — a device by which authors who write for children create a dialog between past and present selves.” [Wayne Pond]
Catherwood and Quee
Jill McCorkle reads from and discusses her novel Carolina Moon, which “recounts the adventures of Queen Mary Stutts Purdy–Quee, to her friends–and her god-daughter Denise. It combines love story, murder mystery, and self-help satire.” [Wayne Pond]
In the second interview [15:00], novelist Marly Youmans reads from and discusses Catherwood, “a compelling story of a mother and daughter lost in the beautiful but dangerous American wilderness in the year 1676. Publishers Weekly calls Catherwood ‘subtle but magnetic…a historical romance (with time and place authentically and indelibly rendered) and a study of motherhood’s most primitive impulses.'” [Wayne Pond]
Green Imperialism
Environmental historian Richard Grove discusses his book, Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens, and the Origins of Environmentalism, 1600-1860, an account of environmentalism with special reference to islands as metaphors of Western thought.
At the time of this interview, Grove was a Fellow at the National Humanities Center (1995-96) and research associate at the Australian National University and coordinator of the Global Environmental History Unit at the University of Cambridge.
This episode of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
Slang to Sibelius
Connie Eble discusses her book, Slang and Sociability: In-Group Language College Students, an account of how college students talk and how their language reflects identity and social authority.
In the episode’s second interview [15:10], Robert Fradkin talks about his book, The Well-Tempered Announcer: A Pronunciation Guide to Classical Music, which according to Fradkin might be subtitled, How to Take the Foreignness out of Foreign Languages.
Storytellers
John Ehle reads from and talks about his book, The Journey of August King, the story of an early 19th-century white farmer and a runaway slave girl whose paths and lives cross against the backdrops of social racism and individual conscience. This book is also the basis for a recently-released theatrical film.
George Garrett reads from and talks about his novel The King of Babylon Shall not Come Against You, which is about American society since the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968. Kirkus Reviews calls the book an entertaining colloquium on the state of the nation.
Computers and Culture
As part of a continuing series of discussions on the history of information technology produced in collaboration with the Computerworld Smithsonian Awards Program, Soundings features innovator Brewster Kahle. His latest brainchild is the Internet Archive, a large-scale digital information repository. Among the Archive’s goals is keeping track of the technical innovations that are changing our understanding and use of digital information.
Culture and Work
A talk about the Encyclopedia of African Culture and History. David Smith is a principal editor of the recently published five-volume set.
Julius Wilson talks about his most recent book, When Work Disappears.
Sojourner and Frederick Part 1
Nell Irvin Painter discusses her new book, Sojourner Truth — a Life, a Symbol.
John Sekora discusses his new book, Frederick Douglass. [unpublished?]