Coalfield.com - MELUNGEONS IN FICTION

"MELUNGEONS IN FICTION

On Friday, Katherine Vande Brake - an English professor at King College in Bristol, Tenn. - discussed Melungeon characters in fiction. She's the author of 'How They Shine: Melungeon Characters in the Fiction of Appalachia.'

Vande Brake studied 21 pieces of Appalachian fiction, each of which features characters who are Melungeon. Some of those works include 'Through the Gap' by John Fox Jr., 'The Devil's Dream' by Lee Smith, 'Daughter of the Legend' by Jesse Stuart, 'The Tall Woman' by Wilma Dykeman and 'Big Stone Gap' by Adriana Trigiani.

Vande Brake argues that the writers choose Melungeon characters and incorporate Melungeon lore because it's such as powerful metaphor. It's a way to say more with less, she said Friday.

The term Melungeon conjures visions of self-sufficient life on Appalachian ridges, tongue-speaking snake handling preachers, secluded log cabins with arched windows and family genealogies complete with foreign-sounding names, according to Vande Brake.

These stories often contain or feature unpredictability and mystery, prejudice, violence, isolation, poverty, moonshine making, herb lore and herb medicine"


How They Shine: Melungeon Characters in the Fiction of Appalachia ( Melungeon Series)