A Paul Green Reader / Edition 1

by Laurence G. Avery

Overview

North Carolina's Paul Green (1894-1981) was part of that remarkable generation of writers who first brought southern writing to the attention of the world. Winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1927, Green was a restless experimenter who pioneered a new form of theater with his "symphonic drama," The Lost Colony. A concern for human rights characterized both his life and his writing, and his steady advocacy for educational and social reform and racial justice contributed in fundamental ways to the emerging New South in the first half of this century.

A Paul Green Reader makes available once again the work of this powerful and engaging writer. It features Green's drama and fiction, with texts of three plays—including the Pulitzer Prize-winning In Abraham's Bosom and the famous second act of The Lost Colony—and six short stories. It also reveals the life behind the work through several of Green's essays and letters and an excerpt from The Wordbook, his collection of regional folklore. Laurence Avery's introduction outlines Green's life and examines the central concerns and techniques of his work.

A native of Harnett County, North Carolina, Paul Green was a devoted teacher of philosophy and drama at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807847084
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	05/25/1998
Series:	Chapel Hill Books
Edition description:	1
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.68(d)

About the Author

Laurence G. Avery, editor of the award-winning A Southern Life: Letters of Paul Green, 1916-1981, is professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction

Part I. Plays
In Abraham's Bosom: The Tragedy of a Southern Negro
Hymn to the Rising Sun: A Drama of Man's Waste
The Lost Colony: A Symphonic Drama of Man's Faith and Work (Act 2)

Part II. Stories The Cornshucking Salvation on a String Saturday Night Bernie and the Britches The Ghost in the Tree Fine Wagon

Part III. On Race and Human Rights To Ward Morehouse on In Abraham's Bosom
To J. C. B. Ehringhaus and M. Hugh Thompson on the Bittings Case To E. M. Land on the Wellmon Case

Part IV. On Writing, Education, and Life Drama and the Weather The University in a Nuclear Age To James Holly Hanford on the Development of North Carolina
Paul Green's Wordbook: An Alphabet of Reminiscence (excerpt)

Textual Notes Paul Green's Books

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Indeed, few writers have mastered the making of stories, plays, musicals, and essays as well as did Paul Green, and here at last we have a valuable single volume which acquaints new readers with his work. . . . [A] brilliant achievement.—John Ehle

Editorial Reviews

The six stories included in A Paul Green Reader are a delightful collection of humorous tales which celebrate the simple values and complex ironies of southern country life. . . . Avery's anthology of Green's writing will hopefully help to introduce him to a new generation of readers, who will be rewarded by his realism, humor, intelligence, compassion, and plain good story-telling.—Independent Publisher



A wonderful opportunity to revisit not only the work of a true American theatrical visionary, storyteller, and committed social activist, but an entire era in American literary, theatrical, and political history.—Southern Quarterly



Paul Green was a talented, eloquent North Carolina writer and a dedicated, thoughtful citizen of the Tar Heel State. This book makes some of his finest works and thought available to a new generation of readers.—North Carolina Historical Review

From the Publisher