"River Of Earth" by James Still--Book Review

James Still--Photo by University Of Kentucky

This novel by James Still is frequently referred to as "the quintessential Appalachian novel" and at times even as "the best Appalachian novel ever written".  I agree that it is a wonderful novel with beautiful use of dialect which is very difficult to produce accurately without becoming maudlin.  Still did an excellent job of dealing with the classic Appalachian dialect of my native and his adopted Knott County Kentucky.  The novel is narrated by a young boy of about 8 or 10 whose family is overburdened with poverty, illness, death, and deprivation.  They move back and forth from the hillside farm on which the story begins and the coal camp nearby where the father works whenever he is able.  The mother is devoted to her family and the family farm where she eventually buries her most recent child who dies of poverty and malnutrition.  Another son loses some fingers from playing with a blasting camp during their stay in the coal camp.  Three worthless relatives of the weak father move in on the family anytime they begin to do well and have an extra meal or two available.  They contribute nothing to the family and generate strife between the father and mother.  In this book (The Hills Remember: The Complete Short Stories Of James Still), Still writes in (his version of) the dialect which my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and the customers in our country store spoke during my childhood.  Other than Mildred Haun, Still may well be the best writer in Appalachian dialect.  But one word used by Still always sticks in my craw as a native Knott Countian.  That word is "chaps" to refer to children and I never heard any of the native speakers around whom I spent my childhood use that word to refer to children.  I suspect the word "chaps" was imported by James Still into his novel subconsciously from his native Eastern Alabama.

" When I wrote about "The Hills Remember: The Complete Short Stories Of James Still", I discussed his dialect writing in comparison to that of Mildred Haun and I append that discussion here: Still is also frequently referred to as one of the better, if not the best, writers in Appalachian dialect.  I do not dispute that he is a fine writer in Appalachian dialect.  But I will always believe that Mildred Haun is a far superior writer of Appalachian dialect.  Her classic work "The Hawk's Done Gone" is far and away the best dialect writing ever done in Appalachian Literature.  As I said earlier, I spent the first twenty years of my life in Knott County Kentucky, was educated there through high school and began my college education at Alice Lloyd College.  I was also reared by my parents, maternal grandparents, and an extended family of aunts and uncles who all grew up in Knott County early in, and in some cases before the turn of the twentieth century.  I know Knott County Appalachian dialect as well as any human on earth and I must insist that there are times when I see that  James Still wrote linguistic expressions which I never heard from my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, farmers at the livestock sales or jockey grounds, or the elderly customers at my parents' country store.  The one word which he used frequently, especially in "River Of Earth" and his short stories and which I never once heard in Knott County is "chaps" in reference to small children.  In my childhood, small children were "young'uns", "chillun", "yard apes", "curtain climbers", and several more conventional, less colloquial terms.  But they were never "chaps".  I suspect that is an expression from Still's youth in Alabama.  Getting back to the comparison between Still and Haun, I will defend Still to the degree that the two of them were writing dialect based on two different subregions of Central Appalachia.  I have also traveled extensively in the Cocke County, TN, area where Haun spent her life and did extensive research among Appalachian serpent handlers there.  The two subdialects have significant differences.  But Haun's consistency and accuracy in writing dialect is superior to James Still's.  It is also worth noting that it is only 63 miles from Harrogate, TN, where Still attended college to Newport, TN, where Haun lived her life.  I do not know that Still ever spent time in Newport but since he and Haun both attended Vanderbilt University it is possible that he did know her and might have even visited the area which would have also exposed him to the dialect which she wrote so admirably.  It is also possible that Still's travels from Chambers County Alabama to Claiborne County Tennessee to Davidson County Tennessee to Knott County Kentucky could have provided a plethora to opportunity for Still to blend the dialects of the four to a degree that not even he recognized."

I do not mean to disparage James Still as an Appalachian writer.  He is a wonderful writer and his work, especially "The River Of Earth", has been taught in classes in colleges and universities all across America and several foreign countries.  But after 68 years of life arising in and being deeply influenced by Knott County, I am firmly convinced that I understand the local dialect as well as anyone on earth.  And, if I am allowed to move on from the discussion of his dialect writing to a simple discussion of the novel as an example of outstanding literature, I firmly believe that it borders on being a masterpiece.  But there are other writers who have lived and written in, of, and about their native Appalachia whose work rivals Still's and I would never go so far as to say any of them have written "the best Appalachian novel".   I believe that appellation is still up for grabs.  I believe that supporters of Harriett Simpson Arnow, Denise Giardina, Gurney Norman, Wilma Dykeman, and Thomas Wolfe can all make rational arguments that each of these authors has written "the best Appalachian novel".   

But let me close by saying that James Still was a wonderful novelist.  In my opinion, he was a far better novelist than a poet for which he actually is often praised more highly.  This novel is arguably a masterpiece and will always be worth reading because of the strong characterizations, the building and resolution of conflicts throughout, and the stark, simple, powerful language which draws the reader into this book and leaves her wanting more and also wanting to help this family fight against their unending struggle to survive.  It is wonderful writing.