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Rating: 
Summary: An Essential Southern App Collection
Review: Being originally from the same part of the country as Mildred Haun I can attest to the authenticity and accuracy of the style and speech used throughout this book. These are stories where deep tragedy and farcical humor innertwine, told in speech patterns still common to East Tennessee. One of the recurrent themes (among many) in these stories is the silent suffering of Appalachian women; they keep their sarcastic observations to themselves while their worlds crumble around them. Yet the reader has just cause to doubt their veracity, and wonder why these women don't react if circumstances are really as bad as depicted. This demonstrates Haun's keen sense of irony as she lays inner thoughts in relief to the harsh but simpler realities of late 19th and early 20th century Appalachia. In addition, there are strong references to the supernatural throughout, owing to the intimacy between mankind and nature in these settings. The first part of this book consists of "The Hawk's Done Gone", a loosely unified novel told in a series of vignettes by the same narrator -- a "granny woman" (i.e. midwife and makeshift funeral arranger). Like Faulkner's "Go Down, Moses" these individual stories build a masterful composite picture -- here, of rural mountain life in an area removed from the stereotypic coal mines and bootlegging of other popular Appalachian books. The second half is a collection of separate, unrelated stories, and the last one, "Dave Cocke's Motion," is worth the price of the whole volume. It is a side-splitting satire that beautifully captures the wry, sarcastic humor of East Tennessee. Beginning as the recounting of a rivalry between two young, aspiring musicians, it explodes into a church split, which in turn dredges up deep-seeded political divisions from the Civil War era -- an important nuance, given that as many Union sympathizers lived in that part of the country as Secessionists. Not one to miss, "Cocke's Motion" is every bit as clever and insightful as anything in Mark Twain's canon. In cannot be overstated that Mildred Haun's work is literature in the fullest sense. Despite her milieu, which is often derided as backward, Haun had the smarts to attend Vanderbilt University where she honed her writing chops under the guidance of the celebrated "Fugitive" poet/essayist John Crowe Ransom. "The Hawk's Done Gone" is the work of an obscure literary genius, and is possibly the finest example of Southern Appalachian fiction ever written.
Rating:
Summary: An Essential Southern App Collection
Review: Being originally from the same part of the country as Mildred Haun I can attest to the authenticity and accuracy of the style and speech used throughout this book. These are stories where deep tragedy and farcical humor innertwine, told in speech patterns still common to East Tennessee. One of the recurrent themes (among many) in these stories is the silent suffering of Appalachian women; they keep their sarcastic observations to themselves while their worlds crumble around them. Yet the reader has just cause to doubt their veracity, and wonder why these women don't react if circumstances are really as bad as depicted. This demonstrates Haun's keen sense of irony as she lays inner thoughts in relief to the harsh but simpler realities of late 19th and early 20th century Appalachia. In addition, there are strong references to the supernatural throughout, owing to the intimacy between mankind and nature in these settings. The first part of this book consists of "The Hawk's Done Gone", a loosely unified novel told in a series of vignettes by the same narrator -- a "granny woman" (i.e. midwife and makeshift funeral arranger). Like Faulkner's "Go Down, Moses" these individual stories build a masterful composite picture -- here, of rural mountain life in an area removed from the stereotypic coal mines and bootlegging of other popular Appalachian books. The second half is a collection of separate, unrelated stories, and the last one, "Dave Cocke's Motion," is worth the price of the whole volume. It is a side-splitting satire that beautifully captures the wry, sarcastic humor of East Tennessee. Beginning as the recounting of a rivalry between two young, aspiring musicians, it explodes into a church split, which in turn dredges up deep-seeded political divisions from the Civil War era -- an important nuance, given that as many Union sympathizers lived in that part of the country as Secessionists. Not one to miss, "Cocke's Motion" is every bit as clever and insightful as anything in Mark Twain's canon. In cannot be overstated that Mildred Haun's work is literature in the fullest sense. Despite her milieu, which is often derided as backward, Haun had the smarts to attend Vanderbilt University where she honed her writing chops under the guidance of the celebrated "Fugitive" poet/essayist John Crowe Ransom. "The Hawk's Done Gone" is the work of an obscure literary genius, and is possibly the finest example of Southern Appalachian fiction ever written.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent fictional depiction of life in Appalachia
Review: Mildred Haun's work continues to be read and taught at the collegiate level nearly 70 years after it was written. It is an excellent depiction of life in Appalachian Tennessee shortly after the turn of the twentieth century. It is also a highly skilled use of dialect and folk lore in a fictional setting. The majority of the stories in the book utilize a common narrator, a central group of characters, and a rough chronological progression. The book is often discussed in settings that seek to determine the point at which such a collection of short stories cross the line and become a novel. The book is a must read for anyone seeking to attain a complete understanding of Appalachian Literature.
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