Meridian’s Lost Classics a Great Find

Meridian, the semi-annual from the University of Virginia, celebrates its 10th Anniversary with its May 2008 issue. In it are selections from the first ten years of Meridian. One of the regular features of Meridian is the “Lost Classic” – which is exactly as it sounds.

The retrospective includes a list of the twenty classics, a brief explanation as to “why it is important,” for some “what happened to it,” and an excerpt of the text. A few listed classics: Letters from Jack London to Louis A. Augusin; Zora Neeale Hurston: Unpublished Writing from the Federal Writers’ Project and a Lost Interview; Two Uncollected Works by Robert Frost; A special Portfolio by Jane Kenyon; A Letter from Edgar Allan Poe to Washington Irving.

This issue of Meridian‘s “Lost Classic” is “Stephen Crane’s Deleted Chapters from Red Badge of Courage.” The introduction by Jeb Livingood as well as the chapters are available on Meridian‘s website. A number of the previous issues’ Lost Classics are also available on their site.

A wonderful feature for reconnecting and reconsidering works and their authors.