Kinfolks: The Wilgus stories

Literature & Fiction

Norman, Gurney

Short Stories & Anthologies

Gnomon

Fiction. "Like Sherwood Anderson's 'Winesburg, Ohio' or Hemingway's Nick Adams stories, both of which it resembles in form and style, 'Kinfolks' is a short-story cycle dramatizing the growth of a young boy to early manhood, particularly as his development is reflected in changing relationships within a large Appalachian family. Like that of his mentors, Norman's work is novelistic in scope while preserving in the individual episodes the essential qualities of the short story. This new work can only enhance his reputation by suggesting that Norman may be the outstanding Appalachian storyteller of his generation"-The Courier-Journal.

Kinfolks: The Wilgus Stories

United States

Gnomon Press

Fiction. A "novel of the counterculture," Gurney Norman's DIVINE RIGHT'S TRIP elicited comparison to Salinger and Kerouac upon its publication in 1971. "DIVINE RIGHT'S TRIP shows itself to be a subtly written and morally passionate epic of the counterculture, a fictional explication of the hopeful new consciousness come to birth.Divine Right is bigger than life, and in giving the story thus far of a segment of his generation, in prose nicely threaded between the vernacular and the symbolic, Gurney Norman has shown a noble reach and a healthy grasp." - John Updike

Divine Right's Trip

Contemporary

Norman's novella-length folktale tells the story of resistance among the folks against an evil King. Using the Appalachian region as a model, the tale describes a mythic hill domain that has been exploited by the forces of a colonizing empire. The hero Jack, familiar from the Jack tale tradition, is the fugitive leader of the people's revolt and the nemesis of the King. Wounded survivors of the revolution find solace and healing on Ancient Creek where old Aunt Haze is the guiding spirit.
 Told in mock-heroic language, Ancient Creek employs satire, comic irony, regional speech and the voice of a storyteller as it moves toward its hopeful conclusion. "Ancient Creek is an idea as well as a physical place in the Hill Domain that has not been spoiled by humans," says Norman. "It is so pure, so far back in the mountains, it does not appear on the King s maps. Ancient Creek refers to the old stream. It's an actual stream but also a river of words, a stream of consciousness that bears the old legends and lore and the old wisdom. There are forces in the world that want to destroy that river, to destroy all native and natural life, bring it under control for whatever profit that may be in it. That is what the resistance is about."
 First recorded as a spoken-word album by Appalshop in 1975, Ancient Creek appears in book form for the first time in this Old Cove Press edition. In addition to Norman s original tale, the book includes essays about the story by Annalucia Accardo, Dee Davis, Kevin I. Eyster and Jim Wayne Miller. A digitally remastered CD of the 1975 reading is being published concurrently with the book by June Appal Recordings, a division of Appalshop. The book and CD feature cover art by noted Kentucky artist Pam Oldfield Meade, who painted her vision of Ancient Creek.

Ancient Creek: A Folktale

Old Cove Press

<div> A collection of stories twenty years in the making from celebrated Kentucky author Gurney Norman. Told in the first person, this autobiographical collection of linked stories follows a young man, Wilgus Collier, through his struggles to understand his working-class Appalachian childhood and, later, to navigate midlife alcoholism and depression. The book's epilogue features a selection of Norman's nonfiction essays. Published by Old Cove Press </div>

Allegiance: Stories

Ohio University Press Distributed Titles

<div> A new collection of stories from celebrated Kentucky author Gurney Norman "A beautiful book" ... "A remarkable, eye-opening set of stories" ... "Brilliantly arranged" ... "An exhilarating mirroring of consciousness itself" ... "Grand and important, funny and heartbreaking" ... "An act of grace" Allegiance is a brilliant and original set of stories by former Kentucky Poet Laureate Gurney Norman. Spanning forty years of work, Allegiance is an autobiography told through stories--a rich personal journey into Norman's life, place, and consciousness. In classic short stories, lyrical meditations, folktales, dreamscapes, and stream-of-consciousness writing, Norman imaginatively weaves together the threads of his life. Each story builds on what has come before, "prisms enlarging the effect of the whole ..." The stories are humorous and heartbreaking, told mainly in the voice of Norman's fictional narrator, Wilgus Collier. From his working-class childhood in the coalfields of Appalachia to the center of the 1960s counterculture and back again to Kentucky, Norman's journey has been a life of many movements. This is a jacketed hardcover edition of Allegiance, featuring a foreword by poet Leatha Kendrick, an author's note, and an original cover painting by Appalachian artist Pam Oldfield Meade. A selection of nonfiction pieces comprises the book's epilogue. Published by Old Cove Press </div>

A new collection of stories from celebrated Kentucky author Gurney Norman “A beautiful book” … “A remarkable, eye-opening set of stories” … “Brilliantly arranged” … “An exhilarating mirroring of consciousness itself” … “Grand and important, funny and heartbreaking” … “An act of grace” Allegiance is a brilliant and original set of stories by former Kentucky Poet Laureate Gurney Norman. Spanning forty years of work, Allegiance is an autobiography told through stories―a rich personal journey into Norman’s life, place, and consciousness. In classic short stories, lyrical meditations, folktales, dreamscapes, and stream-of-consciousness writing, Norman imaginatively weaves together the threads of his life. Each story builds on what has come before, “prisms enlarging the effect of the whole …” The stories are humorous and heartbreaking, told mainly in the voice of Norman’s fictional narrator, Wilgus Collier. From his working-class childhood in the coalfields of Appalachia to the center of the 1960s counterculture and back again to Kentucky, Norman’s journey has been a life of many movements. This is a jacketed hardcover edition of Allegiance, featuring a foreword by poet Leatha Kendrick, an author’s note, and an original cover painting by Appalachian artist Pam Oldfield Meade. A selection of nonfiction pieces comprises the book’s epilogue. Published by Old Cove Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Norman, Gurney. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Norman, Gurney

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Norman, Gurney. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Kinfolks: The Wilgus stories

Kinfolks: The Wilgus Stories

Divine Right's Trip

Ancient Creek: A Folktale

Allegiance: Stories

Allegiance: Stories

Allegiance: Stories