Southern Frontier Humor : An Anthology

by Inge, M. Thomas; Piacentino, Ed

• ISBN13: 9780826218865
• ISBN10: 0826218865
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-05-12
• Publisher: Univ of Missouri Pr

Summary

If, as some suggest, American literature began with Huckleberry Finn, then the humorists of the Old South surely helped us to shape that literature. Twain himself learned to write by reading the humorists' work, and later writers were influenced by it. This book marks the first new collection of humor from that region published in fifteen years-and the first fresh selection of sketches and tales to appear in over forty years.

Author Biography

M. Thomas Inge is Blackwell Professor of the Humanities, Randolph–Macon College, whose most recent books are The Incredible Mr. Poe: Comic Book Adaptations of the Works of Edgar Allan Poe, 1943–2007 and The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, volume 9, Literature. Ed Piacentino is Professor of English, High Point University, editor of The Enduring Legacy of Old Southwest Humor and C. M. Haile’s "Pardon Jones" Letters: Old Southwest Humor from Antebellum Louisiana.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Note on the Texts	p. xiii
Introduction: The Humor of the Old South; or, Transgression He Wrote	p. 1
Augustus Baldwin Longstreet	p. 25
Georgia Theatrics	p. 26
The Horse-Swap	p. 28
The Fight	p. 34
Solomon Franklin Smith	p. 43
A Tennessee Door-Keeper	p. 44
The Consolate Widow	p. 46
Speculation in Whiskers	p. 47
An Unfinished Obituary	p. 50
Charles F. M. Noland	p. 52
Pete Whetstone's Bear Hunt	p. 53
Pete Whetstone's Last Frolic	p. 54
Pete Whetstone and the Mail Boy	p. 56
William Tappan Thompson	p. 57
The Major in an Embarrassing Situation	p. 58
The Christmas Present in a Bag	p. 62
The Runaway Match; or How the Schoolmaster Master Married a Fortune	p. 65
George Washington Harris	p. 70
Sut Lovingood's Daddy, Acting Horse	p. 71
Parson John Bullen's Lizards	p. 75
Sut Lovingood Reports What Bob Dawson Said, After Marrying a Substitute	p. 81
Well! Dad's Dead	p. 85
JohnSon Jones Hooper	p. 89
Simon Plays the "Snatch" Game	p. 91
Captain Suggs and Lieutenant Snipes "Court-Martial" Mrs. Haycock	p. 97
The Captain Attends a Camp-Meeting	p. 103
Joseph Glover Baldwin	p. 112
Simon Suggs, Jr. Esq., A Legal Biography	p. 113
Thomas Bangs Thorpe	p. 128
The Big Bear of Arkansas	p. 129
Letters from the Far West 2: Above the Yellow-Stone	p. 139
Letters from the Far West 7: Above the Head of Platte	p. 141
Letters from the Far West 10: Cross Timbers	p. 143
Letters from the Far West 12: Beyond the Cross Timbers	p. 146
Henry Clay Lewis	p. 149
A Tight Race Considerin'	p. 150
The Indefatigable Bear Hunter	p. 157
A Struggle for Life	p. 163
Samuel Langhorne Clemens	p. 171
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County	p. 172
The Story of the Old Ram	p. 176
Frescoes from the Past	p. 179
David Crockett	p. 191
Bear Hunting in Tennessee	p. 192
A Love Adventure and Uproarious Fight with a Stage Driver	p. 200
"Riproarious Shemales" Legendary Women of the Crokett Almanacs	p. 202
Sal Fink, the Mississippi Screamer, How She Cooked Injuns	p. 203
Katy Goodgrit	p. 204
One of Crockett's Infant Children, Grinning Lightning at a Bear	p. 205
The Flower of Gum Swamp	p. 206
Joseph Gault	p. 207
A Constable Selling 'Coon Skins	p. 208
A Justice Commanding the Peace	p. 209
The Drunkard's Resurrection in His Morning Shroud	p. 210
James Edward Hentry	p. 212
My Man Dick	p. 213
Hamilton C. Jones	p. 224
Cousin Sally Dilliard	p. 225
McAlpin's Trip to Charleston	p. 227
William Gilmore Simms	p. 230
Ephraim Bartlett, the Edisto Raftsman	p. 231
Joseph M. Field	p. 241
A Lyncher's Own Story	p. 242
Kicking a Yankee	p. 247
Hardin E. Taliaferro	p. 250
Uncle Davy Lane	p. 251
Ride in a Peach Tree (Uncle Davy Lane)	p. 252
The Pigeon Roost (Uncle Davy Lane)	p. 254
Rev. Charles Gentry	p. 255
The Origin of Whites (Rev. Charles Gentry)	p. 256
Jonah and the Whale (Rev. Charles Gentry)	p. 256
John S. Robb	p. 258
Nettle Bottom Ball; or, Betsy Jones' Tumble in the Mush Pan	p. 259
Fun with a "Bar." A Night Adventure on the Missouri	p. 262
Christopher Mason Haile	p. 268
Dear Chase	p. 269
Pardon Jones on the Rio Grande	p. 271
Adam Geiselhard Summer	p. 275
Natural Angling, or Riding a Sturgeon	p. 276
Orlando Benedict Mayer	p. 281
The Innocent Cause, or How Snoring Broke Off a Match: A Tale of Hog Killing Time	p. 282
William C. Hall	p. 289
Mike Hooter's Bar Story	p. 290
How Sally Hooter Got Snake-Bit: A Yazoo Sketch-No. IV	p. 293
Francis James Robinson	p. 299
Lije Benadix	p. 300
Old Jack C-	p. 306
Marcus Lafayette Byrn	p. 319
Spontaneous Ebullition of a Drunkard	p. 321
The Resurrection, or How to Take Up a Negro	p. 323
Southern Frontier Humor: A Selected Bibliography	p. 331
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