Rural Literature A Tweet-Sourced List

Rural Literature A Tweet-Sourced List I am in the midst of writing a big, giant essay on the concept of rural literature that features women, POC, members of the LGBT community, etc. Im sick of the idea that rurality is either not important (see, Rebecca Solnits essay) or is full of white protestant men (literally everything about Trump voters, but notably Hillbilly Elegy). I spontaneously tweeted asking for favorite books of rural literature, and boy did I get a list! Here they are! I have read and loved many. I havent read many others! Some are classics, others just came out. But all of them focus on the diversity of rural (or small town) life in the United States. Some of these authors are white men, but the vast majority are not. Here we go. William Faulkner. I know. I am starting this list with a white man. But I think its important to think of Faulkner not just in his context as a Southern author, but as someone who grappled with the rural (and the ways in which it was diverse). If you are just starting out with Faulkner, may I suggest As I Lay Dying? Zora Neale Hurston. The original queen of the rural south, IMO. If you havent read Hurston, please order Their Eyes Are Watching God immediately. Hurston is one of the few writers who has crafted a rural, all-black world and been lauded for it (though thats recent). She was writing in opposition to the masculinist urban obsession with the Harlem Renaissance and it shows. Her folklore can be problematic, but it also shows the ways in which Hurston so valued rural African American culture. Flannery OConner. Nobody does grotesque like OConner. If you are new, definitely start with the short stories, though her novel Wise Blood is a favorite of mine. Jesmyn Ward is one of my favorite writers ever and was suggested to me about a million times for my essay. Shes won the National Book Award multiple times and writes beautifully about POC in rural Mississippi. If memoir is more your speed, her 2015 memoir  Men We Reaped is jarring but my favorite is her most recent novel Sing, Unburied, Sing. Louise Erdrich. One of my very favorite authors, Erdrich writes beautifully about the experience of Indigenous people in the United States, on and off the reservation. Jeannette Walls. I went back and forth about including The Glass Castle here, but if you havent read Wallss tremendous coming of age story you need to (and, bonus, its now a movie!) Affrilachia by Frank X Walker. This one is new to me, but has come super highly reviewed. Poetry focused on the experience as an African American from Appalachia. Toni Morrison. I would suggest Beloved if you have not yet read it. Ecology of a Cracker Childhood by Janisse Ray. Weedeater by Robert Gipe. The  Birds of Opulence by Crystal Wilkinson. Anything by Willa Cather. I just read My Antonia, which I loved, but The Song of the Lark has come up a lot. Annie Dillard. I am ashamed to say I have yet to read Annie Dillard, but shes next on my list. Jane Smiley. Ah, anything by Jane Smiley. The trilogy is great, as is A Thousand Acres, though its quite the bummer. bell hooks, Appalachian Elegy. More poetry about the experience of Appalachia, by none other than bell hooks. This is one of my very favorites. Barbed Wire Heart by Tess Sharpe. I just started this one, so no spoilers. Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez. YA focusing on migrant labor. Tomas Rivera And the Earth Did not Swallow Him Cottonmouths by Kelly Ford. Focuses on a queer women who gets caught up in Meth in her rural Arkansas hometown. Its brilliant. Sketches of Southern Life by Frances Harper. Cane by Jean Toomer. I finished this one in January and still havent quite wrapped my head around it. Its VERY modernist and may have gone over my head. But still, it was groundbreaking for a reason. Long Division by Kiese Laymon. Boondock Kollage by Regina Bradley In Search of Our Mothers Gardens by Alice Walker.   Beautiful on its own, but gives a lot of insight into the rediscovery of Zora Neale Hurston. Borderlands/La Frontera by Gloria Anzuldua. I just love Anzuldua so much, particularly This Bridge Called My Back, but Borderlands/La Frontera was so influential to me at 19. The Scamp bu Jennifer Pashley. I havent read it yet, but its come HIGHLY recommended. Im not quite sure if I should consider this rural, but I am including Dorothy Allisons Bastard Out of Carolina anyway, because its one of my very favorite books.  Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell. This is clearly not everything and the books I havent written much about come highly recommended and are on my living room floor, waiting to be read, right now! Hope you guys enjoy.