Ron Rash's New Collection: Burning Bright

Ron Rash–Burning Bright

You don't have to pay much atten­tion to this blog to know I'm a huge Ron Rash fan.  His new col­lec­tion Burn­ing Bright arrived in the mail yes­ter­day. I'm sav­ing it until tonight when I can devote full atten­tion to it. In the inter­im, here's a review from, of all places, the Har­vard Crim­son.

Ron Rash was born in Chester, South Car­oli­na and grew up in Boil­ing Springs, North Car­oli­na, and his writ­ing reflects his roots. In “Burn­ing Bright,” Rash pays homage to the land and the peo­ple of the Appalachi­an Moun­tains in which he was raised.

Burn­ing Bright” is a col­lec­tion of short sto­ries which spans rough­ly 150 years from the clos­ing days of the Civ­il War to mod­ern times. Although the book tells a vari­ety of sto­ries and hosts a range of nar­ra­tors, Rash’s sto­ries remain nat­u­ral­ly cohe­sive. The books span a great num­ber of years, but the work remains uni­fied by a strong, organ­ic inter­nal force. Appalachia is one of the most pover­ty-strick­en areas in the Unit­ed States, and Rash’s work reflects the ten­u­ous rela­tion­ship that the peo­ple of this region have with each oth­er and the land beneath them. The impor­tance of the earth and the com­mu­ni­ties dri­ves each sto­ry togeth­er and remains unabat­ed through­out the work. More.

I've been look­ing for­ward to this one for quite some time, after the action-packed–how often can you say that about a lit­er­ary novel?–and fas­ci­nat­ing Ser­e­na and my favorite of his, The World Made Straight. I'll say more after I've got­ten into it tonight or tomorrow.

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4 Responses to Ron Rash's New Collection: Burning Bright

  1. Rusty says:

    Thanks Wan­da. I'll check out Okra.

  2. Wanda Jewell says:

    Burn­ing Bright is a won­der­ful book and Ron Rash is a won­der­ful writer. It was cho­sen as an Okra Pick — see more here — http://​www​.authorsroundthe​south​.com/​o​kra

  3. Rusty says:

    Sweet–thanks for let­ting me know about the BASS.

  4. donna d. vitucci says:

    ron told me also that rus­so picked a sto­ry of his for the upcom­ing BASS. he had one in the cur­rent col­lec­tion, so that's BASS 2 con­sec­u­tive years. man, the guy is burn­ing, indeed.

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