E&H PROFESSOR WANTS LITERATURE FOR YOUTH

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 2, 1992                   TAG: 9201020074
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: EMORY                                LENGTH: Short
E&H PROFESSOR WANTS LITERATURE FOR YOUTH
An associate professor of education at Emory & Henry College says a new kind of literature needs to emerge from Southern writers, aimed at teen-agers and young adults growing up in the South.
E. Herbert Thompson, who has taught at E&H since 1985, made the observation in an article published in the fall issue of Signal, a journal of the International Reading Association.
The article, "No Longer Just Magnolias and Hillbillies," contends that the body of literature defined as "Southern" has typically shown such characteristics as a sense of place, emphasis on community and family, and a belief that the past matters. It also traditionally has promoted the notion that justice should prevail.
Thompson says good Southern writers should continue to emphasize the old themes but set them in more modern circumstances.
All these qualities have helped much Southern literature achieve the status of classic, Thompson says, but some young adults find it hard to read such writers as William Faulkner because the circumstances of his times seem out of date to them.
- Southwest bureau

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB