Oxford American – 2010

A glossy, four-color magazine produced quarterly in Arkansas, featuring magazine journalism, fiction, a dining column, news of the south, and the annual “Best of the South” selection. This year’s “Best of the South” turns “best-of” lists upside down with quirky “Odes to” places, trips, events, people, experiences, books, activities, nature highlights, sports, commercial establishments, food and drink, the visual arts, famous personalities, moods and moments by writers, artists, and actress Sharon Stone. Beth Ann Fennelly expounds on “Ten Sexy Books” (writers as distinctly different from each other as Tennessee Williams, Zora Neale Houston, and Ellen Gilchrist make the list). Maud Newton writes about the Biltmore Hotel in Florida. Barrah Hannah’s ode is advice to a young writer advising that he/she treasure loneliness. William Giraldi celebrates body builders in Louisiana.

A glossy, four-color magazine produced quarterly in Arkansas, featuring magazine journalism, fiction, a dining column, news of the south, and the annual “Best of the South” selection. This year’s “Best of the South” turns “best-of” lists upside down with quirky “Odes to” places, trips, events, people, experiences, books, activities, nature highlights, sports, commercial establishments, food and drink, the visual arts, famous personalities, moods and moments by writers, artists, and actress Sharon Stone. Beth Ann Fennelly expounds on “Ten Sexy Books” (writers as distinctly different from each other as Tennessee Williams, Zora Neale Houston, and Ellen Gilchrist make the list). Maud Newton writes about the Biltmore Hotel in Florida. Barrah Hannah’s ode is advice to a young writer advising that he/she treasure loneliness. William Giraldi celebrates body builders in Louisiana.

This issue’s “Writer on Writing” column is an essay by Clyde Edgerton, “A Good Lie,” about his encounter thirty years ago with neighbors, mostly fishermen, on Portsmouth Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, an isolated place with no electricity, streets or stores. “I wanted to finish my story and certainly not let on … that I was, of all things, a writer – or, even worse, a college professor.”

Ellen Ann Fentress contributes an essay on two Southern writers who were neighbors, but also strangers, Richard Wright and Eudora Welty. George Singleton offers a profile of a Hmong chef in Easley, South Carolina, and John Edge explores the phenomenon of community cookbooks. Hal Crowther considers “Sex and the Southern Politician.” And Robin Cook contributes a tender personal essay, “The Best-Ever Dog,” about beloved aging pets.

This issue also features short fiction by Elizabeth Spencer (“Rising Ride. America the Colorful”) and Matthew Neill Hull (“Something You Can’t Live Without. An Appalachian Crime.” The large commercial magazine look and feel had me expecting popular magazine style fiction, but these are accomplished works of literary fiction from acclaimed writers that might easily be found in more conventional literary journals.

The last page is a typical – happily, so – glossy magazine style full-page photo by Oraien Catledge from a forthcoming book of the Catledge’s work. It’s a terrific black and white image of a boy lazing against a tree, shirt off, eyes shut or looking down, and a large, sleek hound, head turned, eyes staring with a mix of pleading and resignation into the camera. The picture is poignant, almost sad for no apparent reason, which is what makes it especially successful and memorable.
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