Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's Cross Creek Sampler

Bon mots from one of the twentieth century's most beloved writers

"These impeccably chosen passages are a trenchant reminder that Margaret Rawlings is one of our country's greatest writers. Brent Kinser and Rodger Tarr have done an important service not only for Rawlings but also for American Literature."--Ron Rash, author of Burning Bright: Stories

"Rawlings's language is striking, vivid, compelling, precise, and moving. When readers leave the text, they take with them much to ponder and appreciate from Rawlings's lucid descriptions and movingly intriguing dialogue."--Veronica Makowsky, author of Caroline Gordon: A Biography Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1896-1953) fished with Ernest Hemingway, got drunk with Thomas Wolfe, and dined with F. Scott Fitzgerald in Asheville, North Carolina, and with Eleanor Roosevelt in the White House. Robert Frost was a close friend, as was N. C. Wyeth. Born in Washington, D.C., educated at the University of Wisconsin, feted in Hollywood, she was one of the most prominent American writers of the first half of the twentieth century. For Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's Cross Creek Sampler, Brent Kinser and Rodger Tarr, the foremost experts on the life and works of Rawlings, have selected a cornucopia of excerpts from the short fiction and novels written after her arrival in Florida in 1928, including her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Yearling, as well as her best-selling Cross Creek (neither of which has ever gone out of print). The selections illustrate her peculiar genius for describing locations and characters and reveal her unique understanding of the connections we all have with the natural world around us. Arranged thematically, the quotations demonstrate the literary power and beauty of this beloved author. Brent E. Kinser, associate professor of English at Western Carolina University, is coeditor of The Uncollected Writings of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and president of the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Society. Rodger L. Tarr, University Distinguished Professor of English, Emeritus, at Illinois State University, is editor of Love Letters of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings to Norton S. Baskin, Short Stories of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Collected Poems of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and Max and Marjorie, and coeditor of The Uncollected Writings of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.