A True Storyteller: Appalachia's own

Lee Smith

“The story has always served this function, I believe, from the beginning of time.  In the telling of it, we discover who we are, why we exist, what we should do.  It brings order and delight.  Its form is inherently pleasing, and deeply satisfying to us.  Because it has a beginning, a middle, and an end, it gives recognizable shape to the muddle and chaos of our lives.” –Lee Smith [2]

Lee Smith is by far one of modern literature’s most talented storytellers, her ability to tell a story is nothing short of amazing.  Reading her work is like coming home when mama has a big pot of soup beans on the stove for supper, breathing in fresh mountain air full of heritage, and covering up with grandmother’s hundred-year-old quilt.  Her characters are genuine, her places are real, and her understanding of Appalachia and its people is genuine. In 1966, Smith’s literary career began; it was her senior year at Hollins College.  She submitted an early draft of a novel, which dealt with coming of age to a Book-of-the-Month Club.[2]  She was honored to receive one of twelve fellowships. Lee Smith has continued to be honored, in 1991, she was awarded the Chubb Fiction Award in honor of Robert Penn, presented by the Fellowship of Southern Writers. [1] Her other honors include: being Lyndhurst Prize winner and recipient of the Lila Wallace-Readers Digest Award.  [1] Smith has published three collections of short stories and nine novels, which include Oral History, Saving Grace, Black Mountain Breakdown, and Fair and Tender Ladies.  

Lee Smith was born in 1944, she was born and raised in Grundy, Va., a small coal-mining town nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia.  Her childhood home sat on Main Street and the Levisa River ran behind it, what a playground young Lee Smith had growing up in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains and in the peaceful cradle of the river. The daughter of a dime store owner and schoolteacher, Smith began writing when she just a child.  She would watch people through a peephole in the ceiling of her father’s store, she would pay close attention to the way they talked, walked, carried themselves, and the way they interacted with people, she paid very close attention to details. Her childhood experiences certainly helped to fuel her inspiration to write, through her observation and understanding if her people, spiritual exploration, and insatiable desire to preserve old time stories, Smith is able to give each reader an Appalachian memoir, a postcard of an Appalachian life.

What is so compelling about Lee Smith's writing, are her characters, the familiarity of the men, women, and children she creates is astounding.  Granny women, country preachers, small town beauty queens, poverty stricken wives, mothers, daughters and sons, strong, callused farmin' and minin' men; these people can still be found today in Appalachian towns.  Smith has the ability to slip into the minds and hearts of her characters. [2] Therefore creating authenticity for her readers, allowing her characters to be flawed with meanness, evil, and sinful ways yet there is something to love in each one, whether it be their flaws, weaknesses, or strengths.

  Southern fans identify with Smith because she tells a story in the same way granddaddy did or Pauline down at the beauty shop does, “using intimate asides, gossipy digressions, and personal references”. [2] Lee Smith understands mountain ways, spirit, and people.  She understands human nature. She continues to guide her readers on journeys full of laughter and tears, anger and fear. Smith lives with her husband, a journalist, Hal Crowther in North Carolina and relentlessly continues to truly bring Appalachia to life through her writing. 

Note: The picture of Lee Smith was taken from www.aetsedcouncil.org/lit/fellows/smithl.html

         The pictures of the hardback book covers of Fair and Tender Ladies and Saving Grace were taken

         from www.leesmith.com

Works cited and Consulted

1. Chattanooga Conference on Southern Literature: (25 September 2000) www.artsedcouncil.org/lit/fellows/smithl.html (1 October 2000)

2. Official website of author Lee Smith: ( Copyright 1999). www.leesmith.com. (1 October 2000)

Article by: Lara Beth Henderson