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An impressive group of literary scholars and critics will examine the topic "Faulkner and Gender" during six days of lectures and discussions at the 21st Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference, beginning July 31, 1994. Deborah Clarke, John N. Duvall, Minrose Gwin, Joseph R. Urgo, and Patricia Yaeger-all of whom have written on the connections between gender and literature, will join Doreen Fowler, Robert Dale Parker, Noel Polk, Philip Weinstein, and other Faulkner specialists as speakers at the conference. On hand to provide additional perspectives on issues of gender will be Peter Palievsky, literary scholar from the Gorky Institute of World Literature in Moscow, and Larry Brown, critically acclaimed author from Oxford, Miss.
Among other program events will be dramatic readings from Faulkner's works, discussions by the author's friends and family, and a slide presentation by his nephew J. M. Faulkner. Sessions on "Teaching Faulkner" will be conducted by James C. Carothers, University of Kansas; Robert W. Hamblin, Southeast Missouri State University; Arlie Herron, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; and Charles A. Peek, University of Nebraska at Kearney. The University's John Davis Williams Library will display Faulkner books, manuscripts, photographs, memorabilia, and the special exhibition "Fifty Years of Faulkner Criticism." The University Press of Mississippi will exhibit Faulkner books published by university presses throughout the United States. Also, films relating to the author's life and work will be available for viewing during the week. The conference will begin on Sunday, July 31, with a reception at the University Museums for "Find the Faulkner," an exhibition on view from June 10 through September 4. The opening session will feature Voices from Yoknapatawpha, a program of readings of Faulkner passages selected by Evans Harrington, founding director of the conference. Following the readings, conference participants will gather at Faulkner's home, Rowan Oak, for an announcement of the winners of the fifth Faux Faulkner Contest. The contest, coordinated by the author's niece, Dean Faulkner Wells, is sponsored by American Airlines' American Way magazine, Yoknapatawpha Press and its Faulkner Newsletter, and the University of Mississippi. Other events on Sunday will include a buffet supper served at the home of Dr. and Mrs. M. B. Howorth Jr. and an autograph party at Square Books. Tours of North Mississippi are scheduled for Tuesday, and a picnic will be served at Rowan Oak on Wednesday. The conference will end on Friday with a reception at Ammadelle (c. 1859), a beautiful Italianate home designed by the noted architect Calvert Vaux.
The registration fee is $150 for students, $175 for Friends of the Center, and $200 for other participants. The fee includes admission to all conference events, a buffet supper on opening day, a bus tour of Faulkner country, a picnic at Rowan Oak, and a closing reception. It does not cover lodging and food, except for the buffet, lunch during the tour, the picnic, and the reception. For more information, write the Center or call 601-232-5993.
This fall the Center will address the need for a magazine on the American South with a new publication, Reckon. The Center will tap significant resources both on campus and throughout the nation to explore the South through a wide range of articles that probe theregion's culture. Using a journalistic rather than an academic style, the magazine will examine topics with the thoroughness of our Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Southern writers, architecture, folk art, religion, music, these and numerous other topics will be treated with text and photography that will showcase the panorama of our region.
The magazine's flame has been kept burning for over 15 years by the Center's tireless associate director, Ann Abadie. During Oxford's recent ice storm Ann, forced to work at home, found herself reflecting that if the magazine is ever to be launched, it must be launched now. Once the ice melted, Ann returned to her office and enlisted Lynn McKnight, a Southern Studies graduate student who worked with Insight magazine before coming to the Center, to help her organize plans for the publication. Ann, Lynn, and I met with Samir Husni, a journalism professor who is known throughout the nation for his courses and research on magazines. With Samir's excellent counsel, we have prepared a prototype and are assembling the first issue. Susan Lee, who designs Living Blues and other Center publications, is the designer for Reckon.
You, dear reader, have watched our Center grow through many stages. From our first courses on the South and our plans for the Encyclopedia in 1979 to the recent renovation of Barnard Observatory, we have laid significant foundations for understanding the culture in which we live. Throughout this process we have sought to reach beyond the walls of academe and to share our treasures with the world. Reckon is a significant step in this process. Through its pages we will expand the audiences with whom we work, appealing to Southerners and readers from other regions, too. I know you will share my excitement about the introduction of Reckon this year, and I hope you will join me in subscribing to this important publication.
Earlier this year, the Center's State Advisory Committee enjoyed a memorable weekend that featured an architectural tour of Ocean Springs, Miss., sponsored by the Walter Anderson Museum of Art. The tour was organized by Courtney Blossman and ended with a lovely reception in the home of Pat and Phineas Stephens. The next day, in Picayune, Lynn Gammill hosted our group at the Crosby Arboretum. The director, Edward L. Blake Jr., led us on a walk through the Arboretum and described its transformation from a pine plantation into a dramatic manifestation of the Piney Woods. AIA Fellow Robert A. Ivy Jr., lecturer for the Ocean Springs tour, was on hand to talk about Pinecote Pavilion. There, in this stunning building Fay Jones designed for the Arboretum, we had a delightful lunch andconducted our meeting. The impressive work of the Arboretum is featured in a videotape that will soon be available through the Center's Southern Culture Catalog.
Our recent Oxford Conference for the Book was an enormous success. Writers, publishers, literary agents, and readers shared ideas and pondered the future of the book. Topics such as the impact of both the electronic book and bookstore chains on writers and the reading public drew large audiences. Barry Hannah chaired the final session, which featured Oxford's own John Grisham talking with Stephen King about their best-selling novels. The success of this year's conference was due to the tireless efforts of five people: Ann Abadie, Cynthia Shearer, Sarah Dixon Pegues, Mary Hartwell Howorth, and Richard Howorth, who organized and executed the program so beautifully. I speak for everyone who enjoyed the program in thanking them for its success. Also, I express my gratitude to Pamela Massey, the Oxford Tourism Council, and the Mississippi Department of Economic and Community Development for their support. We look forward to our third conference on the book next spring.
The Center's exchange with the American Studies Program at the College of William and Mary is moving along very well. This spring Charles Wilson and two of our graduate students, Susan Glisson and John Spivey, spent a weekend at William and Mary. Charles lectured and led a seminar similar to one Susan Donaldson and several of her students at William and Mary conducted at our Center this past fall. Our programs complement one another in many ways, and we are very excited about the opportunities the exchange offers for students and faculty at both institutions.
I am especially proud of Center students who continue to do distinguished work. Aimee Schmidt completed her master's degree in Southern Studies this spring and was hired as Folklife Specialist for the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture in Montgomery. Sally Graham was recently hired by Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies to develop research for their "Behind the Veil" project in Albany, Ga. Recent Southern Studies graduates who have been accepted for doctoral programs are Genie Bryan (Southwestern Louisiana State University), Kimberlynne Darby (Ohio State University), Susan Glisson (William and Mary), Tamara King (Auburn), Darren McDaniel (Vanderbilt),and John Spivey (University of Kansas). Our congratulations to each of these students for their impressive achievements.
Finally, the Center will soon launch a Southern Culture resource on Internet. More than 1 billion users of Internet throughout the world will be able to use the Center's "gopher service" to access text, still images, motion pictures, and sound recordings on the American South. We will keep you posted on how the service can be used and are excited about how this new technology will enhance our work.
Spring is a time for planting seeds, and we have sown quite a crop. Thank you for your continued support of our efforts.
William Ferris
Regular departments will provide continuity from issue to issue. Among other departments, Premieres and Previews will round up forthcoming events, publications, and releases; Sacred Spaces will feature the region's religious life; and On the Table will serve up discussions of the South's foodways.
A magazine of, on, and about Southern culture, Reckon will probe standard, but often misguided, wisdom about the region. The object is to explain the distinctiveness of Southern identity in an increasingly homogenized world, as well as to tell the important stories of a changing region.
The first issue of Reckon will appear later this year. Published by the Center, the magazine will be sold through subscriptions and on newsstands.
For more information, call 601-232-5993 or write to Reckon, Center for the Study of Southern Culture, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677.