Library
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February 2000 Vol. 4 No. 10
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Lee Smith's speaking voice is
unmistakable. Some time ago I tuned in to
CBS Sunday Morning and knew
immediately, without looking, that I was
hearing Lee Smith-and I had only heard
her speak twice before. As you would
expect she has a Southern accent, but
why is it so memorable? Again as you
might expect, most of her themes and
characters are Southern; when she read
from her novel The Devil's Dream at the
UNCG Alumni House, the audience roared
with laughter as she described her attempt
to explain the term "double wide” to her
New York editor.
So her literary voice is no less Southem-
and no less memorable-than her
speaking voice. Whether she is writing in
the voice of a child or an old woman, an
evangelical Christian or a stripper, the
words and the tone ring true. In her most
recent short story collection, News of the
Spirit, she speaks in all these voices and
more, with never a missed beat or an
uncertain note. In fact, in all of her writing,
it is her characters' voices, not their
settings or their actions, that have
remained with me. Surely it's no accident
that one of her most praised novels is
called Oral History.
If you haven't read Lee Smith, start with
the stories. (Her other collections are
Cakewalk and Me and Mv Baby View the
Eclipse; the title alone of the last one made
me love it) Then move on tp novels like
Family Linen and Saving Grace. Then
come to hear her speak at the Friends of
the Library meeting. I promise, you won't
forget any of her voices.
-Gaylor Callahan,
Interlibrary Loan Department
Lee Smith to Speak at Friends of
the Library Annual Dinner
Novelist Lee Smith has been confirmed as the featured speaker at the Friends of the Li¬
brary annual dinner on March 22, 2000 in Cone Ballroom. Smith has won a number of
awards, including the Lila Wallace Readers Di¬
gest Award, the Robert Penn Warren Prize for
Fiction, and an Academy Award in Literature
from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
She recently retired from the faculty at N.C. State.
Lee Smith
Smith’s work and that of her fellow alumnae of
Hollins College was recently explored in Nancy
C. Parrish’s book, Lee Smith. Annie Dillard, and
the Hollins Group : a Genesis of Writers, pub¬
lished by LSU Press in 1998.
Lee Smith's work has been well-received by a variety of critics. Jonathan Yardley of
the Washington Post Book World calls her “a writer whose growth has been steady and
sure.” Village Voice reviewer David Bradley calls her ‘‘a master craftsman.” Victoria
Jenkins of the Chicago Tribune Books concludes in a review of Smith’s book The
Devil’s Dream, “she writes with wit and clarity, never with condescension, and her care¬
ful, attentive prose lends dignity to the lives of her subjects.”
Selected Publications:
The Last Day the Dogbushes Bloomed, Harper, 1968.
Something in the Wind , Harper, 1971.
Fancy Strut, Harper, 1973.
Black Mountain Breakdown, Putnam, 1980.
Cakewalk, Putnam, 1981. (stories)
Ora! History, Putnam, 1983.
Family Linen, Putnam, 1985.
Fair and Tender Ladies, Putnam. 1988.
Me and My Baby View the Eclipse, Putnam, 1990. (stories)
The Devil's Dream, Putnam, 1992.
Saving Grace, Putnam, 1995.
The Christmas Letters, Algonquin Books, 1996.
News of the Spirit, Putnam, 1997.
The social hour will begin at 6:15 p.m. in Cone Ballroom of Elliott University Center,
with dinner to follow at 7:15. Reservations may be made through March 15 with the Ad¬
ministrative Offices of Jackson Library. Call 334-5880 for details.
