Page "belles_lettres" Paragraph 472

That is not to deny that he has been aware of traditions, of course, that he is steeped in them, in fact, or that he has dealt with them, in his books.

It is to say rather, I believe, that he has brought to bear on the history, the traditions, and the lore of his region a critical, skeptical mind -- the same mind which has made of him an inveterate experimenter in literary form and technique.

He has employed from his section rich immediate materials which in a loose sense can be termed Southern.

The fact that he has cast over those materials the light of a skeptical mind does not make him any the less Southern, I rather think, for the South has been no more solid than other regions except in the political and related areas where patronage and force and intimidation and fear may produce a surface uniformity.

Some of us might be inclined to argue, in fact, that an independence of mind and action and an intolerance of regimentation, either mental or physical, are particularly Southern traits.