“My mother, Southern to the bone, once told me all Southern literature can be summed up in these words: ‘On the night the hogs ate Willie, Momma died when she heard what Daddy did to Sister.’” — Author Pat Conroy.

Whether you believe Conroy’s tongue-in-cheek assessment or other attempts to define Southern authors, serious readers have long struggled to define what makes a regional author.

It’s clear that Southern authors have dealt with virtually every topic under the sun. Some American literature experts strictly define a Southern author as anyone whose birthplace lies south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

University of South Carolina professor Robert Lamb, the author of two novels, asked one of his classes what they felt made a Southern author.

“Approximately 30 students in one of my American Literature survey classes wound up making a list on the blackboard of characteristics they felt defined Southern authors,” Lamb said. “They said the common themes were a sense of place, weather, language, tradition, superstition, imagination, food, family and history.”

“I think the best observation came from a good friend from Iowa who came to USC primarily due to his great admiration of James Dickey,” he said. “I asked him what he thought made the South so literary and unusual. He replied, ‘Here you have an Institute for Southern Studies. Never in my life have I ever heard of an Institute for Midwestern Studies.’”

Lamb said that Southern-themed literature is extremely popular in Europe.

“I’ve seen a native of Poland who came to USC to study Tara and ‘Gone with the Wind,’” Lamb said. “In my opinion, Southern authors are keenly influenced by the fact that our region is eccentric. That’s probably so because the South is the only region in the U.S. that has suffered defeat in a war. Almost every work penned by a Southern author has an eccentric character in it.

“For the first 200 years of American history, the literary center of the nation was in New England but after the Civil War it moved here and is still here today.”

Lamb said, “The oral tradition here is also very strong. And we are great storytellers. Lots of people have great stories but not everyone can tell them. Southerners can talk and that is translated in the literature of the region. However, you can’t corral just one or two things and say it’s Southern. When you read novels written by these authors, the flavor is just seeping out of the pages.”

Retired Elloree family physician Dr. Robert Holman, whose recent book “Homeward Bound” talks about his life in medicine, said it’s hard to put a finger on what makes a Southern author.

“I think it’s a lot of things,” he said. “So many Southern authors share with people in the region their ties to the land. For example, my family has owned the same land since 1750 and that is a crucial key to our heritage.

“It’s a deep inner feeling you have for the area, the language, how people greet, interact and also assist you. It’s a wonderful feeling of neighborliness.”

The Southern literary scene has seen increasing numbers of female authors over the last two decades.

Lamb said, “I’ve read some very good Southern women authors but most of their works mostly appeal to a female audience. However, if it weren’t for women, the arts would collapse.”

Sumter native Minnie Dix, who has penned such works as “From My Front Porch” under the pseudonym Leigh McKnight, says she feels that there are solid reasons for the increase in Southern women authors.

“I guess women are generally honest and free in passing information to others,” Dix said. “More so than men, women have the ability to live, experience and learn through others.”

Lamb thinks readers continue to search for the elements of family and a sense of spirituality that are found in the works of many Southern authors.

“During a slow time when I was an editor at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution around 1980, I called a number of libraries to find out the novel that was checked out most often,” Lamb said. “Regardless of the section of the country, without exception it was ‘Gone with the Wind.’

“I may be one of the few who believes this, but I think this was one of the truly great American novels, and it was written by a Georgia woman.”

T&D Staff Writer Phil Sarata can be reached by e-mail at psarata@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5540. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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