The River Home: A Return to the Carolina Low Country

by Franklin Burroughs

Overview

The American river has a rich literary heritage, extending from Twain and Thoreau to the more recent journeys of John Graves and Jonathan Raban. Following in this great tradition, Franklin Burroughs chronicles a canoe voyage through the Carolinas, visiting his ancestral homeland and the people who inhabit the banks of the Waccamaw River. His account of this distinctive and rapidly disintegrating backwater reflects on life on and off the river, topography, and how this landscape echoes in the speech, memories, and circumstances of the people he encounters. Their lives provide a kind of living archaeology, and Burroughs's careful descriptions of their voices and habits open a door into history. As quiet and powerful as a river itself, this is a wise and beautifully written narrative of nature, people, and place by one of America's finest writers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820319988
Publisher:	University of Georgia Press
Publication date:	03/01/1998
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

FRANKLIN BURROUGHS grew up in South Carolina and now lives in Maine, where he teaches at Bowdoin College.

FRANKLIN BURROUGHS grew up in South Carolina and now lives in Maine, where he teaches at Bowdoin College.

Editorial Reviews

The River Home is a wonderful book. If you're interested in South Carolina history in general or the human condition in particular, this trip down the Waccamaw is a must.

South Carolina Historical Magazine

The hot-damnedest literary canoe trip since John Graves' Goodbye to a River.

John. G. Mitchell

"The hot-damnedest literary canoe trip since John Graves' Goodbye to a River."—John. G. Mitchell

"The River Home is a wonderful book. If you're interested in South Carolina history in general or the human condition in particular, this trip down the Waccamaw is a must."—South Carolina Historical Magazine

“This is a jewel of a book, a well-baited hook for those who rue a world too fast a-changing."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher