Lee Smith, Oral History

Cecilia Donohue (Independent Scholar - North America)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1983

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Recommended Reading

Published in 1983,

Oral History

is Lee Smith's best-known and most complex novel. Spanning generations and featuring multiple narratives in diverse voices,

Oral History

is replete with irony. The mere title of this novel – “oral history” imprinted between book covers – is just the beginning. Set in the hills and “Hollers” of Appalachia in the Southeastern United States, this novel starts with a simple premise – a scholar's search for her roots – and proceeds to take the reader through a maze of twists and turns in both plot and character relationships. The story of the Cantrell family – more specifically, how the Cantrell family was “cursed” – is revealed through the distinct voices of relatives, near-relatives, onlookers, and an occasional third-person omniscient…

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1696 words

Citation: Donohue, Cecilia. "Oral History". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 December 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3017, accessed 18 April 2024.]

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