We Are the Living is a 1933

1933 in literature

The year 1933 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 17 - The magazine Newsweek is published for the first time.* James Joyce's Ulysses is allowed into United States.-New books:...

 collection of short stories by Erskine Caldwell

Erskine Caldwell

Erskine Preston Caldwell was an American author. His writings about poverty, racism and social problems in his native South like the novels Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre won him critical acclaim, but they also made him controversial among fellow Southerners of the time who felt he was...

, comprising some of this writer's earlier works.

Style

The stories are of different characters, some obviously intended as humorous or satirical

Satire

Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

 while others are lyrical, romantic and/or tragic. Most of them are laid against the background of the lives of ordinary people in the contemporary US South, the social milieu most familiar to the author - some being specifically located in his home state of Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

.

The word "nigger

Nigger

Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...

" occurs in some of the stories, sometimes—but not invariably—in a pejorative sense; at the time of writing its use was not yet considered unacceptable, and it was certainly used in the daily spoken language which Caldwell sought to reproduce.

Contents

The stories in the book include:

• "Warm River
  Warm River (story)
  "Warm River" is short love story by Erskine Caldwell, included in the collection We Are the Living .-Plot synopsis:Richard, the protagonist, crosses in the night a dangerous footbridge in the mountains and arrives at a house where a girl named Gretchen is eagerly waiting for him. She introduces him...
  
  "
• "We Are Looking at You, Agnes
  We Are Looking at You, Agnes
  "We Are Looking at You, Agnes" is short story by Erskine Caldwell, originally published 1931 , included in We Are the Living .The entire story is told as a single interior monologue of the protagonist, a young woman named Agnes....
  
  "
• "The People's Choice"
• "Indian Summer
  Indian Summer (story)
  "Indian Summer" is short story by Erskine Caldwell, dealing with adolescence in the Southern countryside and an early, ambivalent sexual experience....
  
  "
• "Rachel"
• "The Medicine Man
  The Medicine Man (story)
  "The Medicine Man" is a humorous short story by Erskine Caldwell. It was included in We Are the Living . It was also included in the Stories of Erskine Caldwell, a collection of 96 stories first published in 1953 and re-issued in 1996 by the University of Georgia Press..-Plot synopsis:The story...
  
  "
• "Picking Cotton
  Picking Cotton
  "Picking Cotton" is one of Erskine Caldwell's earlier short stories, included in We Are the Living , conspicuous for its humorous treatment of the theme—highly controversial at the time of writing—of inter-racial sex....
  
  "
• "Meddlesome Jack"
• "The Picture"
• "Yellow Girl"
• "August Afternoon"
• "Mama's Little Girl"
• "The First Autumn"
• "After-Image"
• "Crown-Fire"
• "The Empty Room"
• "Over the Green Mountains"
• "The Grass Fire"
• "A Woman in the House"
• "Country Full of Swedes"

External links

• Cover of the first edition