Oxford American – Winter 2006

The Winter Reading Issue of The Oxford American opens with a caveat, in light of how a hip memoirist/music writer named J.T. LeRoy turned out to be a puppet in an elaborate hoax to which even this magazine fell prey. In this vein, there’s the cover shot of Tennessee’s Abigail Vona, the latest memoirist to heat up the publishing world. “At some point,” writes editor Marc Smirnoff, “you have to give up the ghost of hoping you can still be cool.”

The Winter Reading Issue of The Oxford American opens with a caveat, in light of how a hip memoirist/music writer named J.T. LeRoy turned out to be a puppet in an elaborate hoax to which even this magazine fell prey. In this vein, there’s the cover shot of Tennessee’s Abigail Vona, the latest memoirist to heat up the publishing world. “At some point,” writes editor Marc Smirnoff, “you have to give up the ghost of hoping you can still be cool.” He need not worry: The OA still has the best Southern writers at its disposal, assuming they’re all real. The issue’s four short stories might disappoint some for their moments of contrivance, but they’re still fun. Stephanie Powell Watts’ “Unassigned Territory” follows two Jehovah’s Witnesses through the scorching heat. Daniel Alarcón’s “Nancy” is a break-up story with the title ex-girlfriend’s, um, “breasts,” or her artistic renderings thereof, piled up like pillows on the seat and never to be revisited. But OA is a general magazine, and the nonfiction is essential reading. Aside from a symposium on emerging Southern writers and yet another essay on Faulkner, the best read goes to Will Blythe’s “The Art of Hatred,” a primer for the epochal rivalry that is Duke/UNC basketball. Best discovery: artist Wayne White, whose textual painting over kitschy lithographs creates a strange euphoria within. “Logorrhea” is profiler Paul Reyes’ reaction. Imagine giant letters rising like trees out of a landscape portrait, spelling words like “TET” and “LSD” and even longer, sinuous phrases (“The You Just Don’t Get it and You Never Will Look”). It’ll floor you. Further reason why Southern “freaks” like White are a special designation of hippie, and why The Oxford American is a one of a kind survey of the South.
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