Magazine

Buy Print

Issue 41, Fall 2001

The Hidden South

“When Eudora Welty composed a story, she pinned the sheets of paper together! I have an image of her with pins bristling from her mouth as, like a dressmaker working from a paper pattern, she tacked her frill-free paragraphs together, patiently tailoring the prose to fit the oddly shaped reality.” — John Updike

John Updike, Bobbie Ann Mason, X.J. Kennedy, and others remember Eudora Welty. Essays by Paul Reyes, Donna Tartt, Jacob Levenson, and more. Fiction by John McManus. An interview with Barry Hannah.

Other contributors include Bill Belleville, Eric Ormsby, Hal Crowther, David Bottoms, and more.

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS

Editor's Box:
American Question
In times like these, what is the proper role for a magazine like The OA?
by Marc Smirnoff

Dear OA

Off the Shelf
by Fred Hobson, Randall Curb, Tessa DeCarlo, and Annie Wedekind

Dealer’s Choice:
A Man of the World
James Still (1906–2001)
by Hal Crowther

Local Fare:
Eat More Possum?
by John T. Edge

Southern Gallery:
Barry Hannah
One of the South’s most celebrated fiction writers discusses his technique and beliefs.

Wildlife:
Where Tiny Deer Reign
by Bill Belleville

Family Life:
The Place of Shakespeare in a House of Pain
by Eric Ormsby

Art Views:
Spanish Grandeur in Mississippi
by Donna Tartt

Southern Music:
The Other Music Cities
by Alex Halberstadt

Gone Off Up North:
Much Ado About Nothin'
by Roy Blount Jr.

Forum:
Remembering Eudora Welty (1909-2001)
John Updike, Bobbie Ann Mason, X.J. Kennedy, and others pay tribute

Southern Scenes:
Eudora Welty
Photograph by William Eggleston

FEATURES

On the Road in Third-World Alabama
The AIDS epidemic has hit the rural South, and one man tries to help.
by Jacob Levenson

Strange Fruit: The Dream of Elmer Martin
A Baltimore wax museum documents—explicitly—the events that shaped African-American history.
by Paul Reyes

Samuel Mockbee's Vision in an Invisible World
A “genius” award-winning architect builds postmodern homes for the poor.
by Raad Cawthon

Fetch
A young man wants the affection of his roommate.
A story by John McManus

POETRY

Vigilance
by David Bottoms

Documentary
by James Applewhite