This course investigates some of the most important novels, short stories, and memoirs from what many consider to be the most dynamic literary movement to come out of the United States. Ranging from the 19th to the 20th-century, situated at the juncture where oral traditions meet the written word, this course focuses on the many Souths that narrate cultural forms of value and justice. It crosses lines demarcating race, gender, religion, and sexuality to look anew at histories of cultural formation in relation to political struggle. Faulkner is revealed as part of a literary pantheon comprised largely of women and writers of color, including Chesnutt, Chopin, Hurston, Wright, Crews, Toomer, Porter, McCullers, OConnor, Welty, and Walker.