The Member of the Wedding (1946) by Carson McCullers

1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Member of the Wedding (1946)

by Carson McCullers

Columbus, Georgia

Georgia 18/23

  Mildly surprised that this is Carson McCullers first appearance on this blog.  I would have thought The Heart is a Lonely Hunter would have been something I'd read at one point or another.  Alas, here we are.  I was unaware until after I read her Wikipedia page just now that McCullers was closeted lgbt during her life- she got married, unhappily, and suffered from many of the classic symptoms of mid-century American closeted queendom.   It's impossible to read McCullers without thinking of O'Connor- on the actual, literal 1,001 Novels map they are about 120 miles apart from one another.  If you wanted to map Southern Gothic, I think it would encompass the north-central parts of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. Move too far north, and it's Appalachian goth, too far south and it's either N'awlins or the swamps of Florida- both with gothic aspects in those right but not *real* Southern Gothic.

   If you look at her Amazon product page, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is the clearly canonical pick, making this an selection of editor Susan Straight making an "insider" pick for a well-known writer.  This will probably be enough impetus to get me to track down a library Audiobook of Hunter, since, in my heart I know I am a southern Gothic gentleman.