Supplemental Materials for “Old Southwest Humor” An Audio Program from This Goodly Land: ’s Literary Landscape

Program Description

Interviewer Maiben Beard and Dr. Benjamin B. Williams, Professor emeritus, of the Auburn University Montgomery Department of English discuss Old Southwest humor.

Reading List

Anthologies and Overviews

• Anderson, John Q., ed. With the Bark On: Popular Humor of the Old South. Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press, 1967. • Cohen, Hennig, and William B. Dillingham, eds. Humor of the Old Southwest. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1964. Rpt. Athens: University of Press, 1975. Rpt. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1994. • Inge, M. Thomas, ed. The Frontier Humorists: A Critical View. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1975. • Inge, M. Thomas, and Edward J. Piacentino, eds. The Humor of the Old South. Lexington: University Press of , 2001. • Justus, James H. Fetching the Old Southwest: Humorous Writing from Longstreet to Twain. Columbia: University of Press, 2004. • Oehlschlaeger, Fritz, ed. Old Southwest Humor from the St. Louis Reveille, 1844-1850. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1990. • Meine, Franklin J., ed. Tall Tales of the Southwest: An Anthology of Southern and Southwestern Humor, 1830-1860. New York: Knopf, 1930. Rpt. St. Clair Shores, Mich.: Scholarly Press, 1970. • Williams, Benjamin Buford. A Literary History of Alabama: The Nineteenth Century. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1979.

Alabama Authors

Joseph Glover Baldwin

• Baldwin, Joseph G. The Flush Times of Alabama and : A Series of Sketches. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1853. Rpt. Baton Rouge: State University Press, 1987. Rpt. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2005. [An online version of The Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi is available from Google Book Search at http://books.google.com/books?id=tWgTAAAAYAAJ.]

John Gorman Barr

• Barr, John Gorman. Rowdy Tales from Early Alabama: The Humor of John Gorman Barr. Ed. G. Ward Hubbs. University: University of Alabama Press, 1981.

George Washington Harris.

• Harris, George W. Sut Lovingood: Yarns Spun By a "Nat'ral Born Durn'd Fool" Warped and Wove for Public Wear. New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, 1867. Rpt. as Sut Lovingood Yarns. Memphis, Tenn.: St. Lukes Press, 1987. [An online version of Sut Lovingood is available from Google Book Search at http://books.google.com/books?id=AegpAAAAYAAJ.] • ---. High Times and Hard Times: Sketches and Tales. Ed. M. Thomas Inge. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1967.

Johnson Jones Hooper

• Hooper, Johnson Jones. Some Adventures of Captain Simon Suggs, Late of the Tallapoosa Volunteers; Together with "Taking the Census" and Other Alabama Sketches. Illus. Felix Octavius Carr Darley. Philadelphia: Carey & Hart, 1845. Rpt. as Adventures of Captain Simon Suggs …. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1993. [An online version of Adventures of Captain Simon Suggs is available from Google Book Search at http://books.google.com/books?id=acYdAAAAMAAJ.] • Hooper, J. J. A Ride with Old Kit Kuncker, and Other Sketches, and Scenes of Alabama. Tuscaloosa: M. D. J. Slade, 1849. Rpt. as The Widow Rugby's Husband, A Night at the Ugly Man's, and Other Tales of Alabama. Philadelphia: A. Hart, 1851. [An online version of The Widow Rugby's Husband is available from Wright American Fiction, 1851-1875 at http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?sid=13b5806281678338c5ca4a10ed043 d2e;c=wright2;cc=wright2;seq=0001;idno=Wright2-1259.]

Hardin E. Taliaferro

• Taliaferro, Harden E. Fisher’s River (): Scenes and Characters. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1859. [An online version of Fisher’s River is available from Google Book Search at http://books.google.com/books?id=GxoeAAAAMAAJ.] • ---. Carolina Humor. Ed. David K. Jackson. Richmond, Va.: The Dietz Press, 1938. • ---. The Humor of H. E. Taliaferro. Ed. Raymond C. Craig. Knoxville: University of Press, 1987.

Kittrell J. Warren

• Warren, Kittrell J. Life and Public Services of an Army Straggler. Macon, Ga.: J. W. Burke & Co., 1861. Rpt. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1961. • ---. Ups and Downs of Wife Hunting, or, Merry Jokes for Camp Perusal. Augusta, Ga.: Constitutionalist, 1861. Rpt. Atlanta: Emory University Library, 1957.

Web Sites

• Campbell, Donna M. “Southwestern Humor, 1830-1860.” Literary Movements. 2007. Washington State University Department of English. http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/swhumor.htm • Essid, Joe, and Erin Bartels. Spirit of the Southern Frontier. 2003. University of Richmond English Department. http://writing2.richmond.edu/spirit/ • Southwestern Humor: Criticism and Defense of an American Character. 1998. American Studies at University of . http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/sw/front.html

Discussion Questions

• Writer Mark Twain was influenced by the Old Southwest humorists and even borrowed some of their ideas for his own work. Why do you think Twain’s stories are well-known today while those of the Old Southwest humorists are not? • Tricksters like Hooper’s Simon Suggs and Harris’s Sut Lovingood are found in the literature of many cultures and appear in folktales around the world. Give some examples from modern culture. Why is this kind of character so widespread? • William T. Porter reprinted stories from other newspapers in The Spirit of the Times, acknowledging the original sources but not asking their permission or paying them. This practice (widespread then) would be considered copyright violation today. On the one hand, Porter was profiting from others’ work. On the other hand, he gave them a wider audience and actively helped some writers find publishers for their books. What parallels can you find today? Is this practice right or wrong? Defend your position.

Lesson Plans

• Grades 9-12 o “‘Old Southwest’ Humorists and George Washington Harris.” EDSITEment. 2006. National Endowment for the Humanities. http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=709