Mold On The Cornbread Analysis

South Exists as a Genre
Katherine A. Burnett wrote Mold on the Cornbread: The Spore Paradigm of Southern Studies (2016) with the purpose of arguing for “the continued importance of regional distinctions and, further, the importance of southern studies.” (Burnett 162). She starts her essay by stating that scholars seek to dispose of the Southern distinction of literature and states a couple of arguments that might be made for the disposal of it. Then she turns around and states her thesis and starts to argue for Southern literary studies. She develops and supports her thesis by starting with the idea that a “void” still needs to be filled in Southern literature (Burnett 162). She then moves to speaking on the fact that the study of early Southern …show more content…
She begins her argument by talking about the “void” in Southern literature (Burnett 162). She says that Southern studies have focused on twentieth century authors but there is little on authors before the 1930s and even less prior to the civil war. That is where the “void” in southern literature exists. She does admit scholars have worked toward filling it, but there is still much to be done. I think that this part of her argument can be directly used against the two arguments she stated that other scholars make. The other scholars make arguments that deal with how things have changed today, but when there is a big “void” in the past, does the lack of isolationism and dissolving of geographical differences in today’s society matter? Even if modern literature has changed, historical literature has not and southern studies can be done in that area without questioning whether the isolationism and geographical region have an impact on the literature. It may not argue for modern Southern studies, but it does argue that Southern Studies should still exist for the purpose of filling the “void” in historical Southern …show more content…
She claims that “Jettisoning regional distinctions eliminates lasting and tangible effects of history.” (Burnett 163). She is still saying we can’t dispose or “jettison” regional distinctions, but also says long lasting effects of history would be destroyed if we did so. She goes on to give an example of this by referencing the 2012 Southern Festival of Books. She specifically references a speech entitled “Why So Few Blacks Study the Civil War.”. In the speech, the author speaks on how traditional Civil War studies glorify the battles and ignores the human tragedy that occurred. He then tells the story of Meg Palmer and reaches the statement that the Civil War was nothing but “human beings kidnapped and held in bondage. Not discussions of states’ rights or regional identity.” (Burnett 163). This illustration is just meant to show that you unmoor that last understanding of the Civil War then you don’t get the full understanding of what really happened. That also means that this is part of the regional identification we have inherited and should not discard least we take away from our identification. Burnett then goes on to say that the same problem occurs when South and regional particularities are separated. Instead of adding definition to the South it has been taken away from