Southern Literature is Part Myth and Part Reality

Southern literature is part myth and part reality, but sometimes I think that the literature is bigger than the South itself. Or maybe the myth has overcome the reality. It really is like Big Fish, where the people are enchanting, and the tales grow taller ~ yet the truth of it finally proves even stranger than fiction. Southern authors have created some memorable characters ~ but then, so has the South! The thing of it is, the characters who are so universally known through film are the ones who, perhaps, represent the real South least of all. It is the characters like Stella-Rondo, Mrs. May and Scofield who seem to live and breathe ~ and all too often, appear in proxy as spectators on the evening news! There are, too, the strong, self-reliant Appalachian people, and they are represented on film, though few and far between.