Understanding Ron Rash

". . . Lang's monograph not only provides an understanding of Ron Rash's work: it is also a book that will serve as an indispensable foundation for future scholarship."—North Carolina Literary Review

"Understanding Ron Rash serves as the foundational companion for the work of a writer whose contribution to American literature is immense."—Choice

"For Understanding Ron Rash, the University of South Carolina Press has found a writer equal to the task. John Lang's writing is every bit as deep, humane, and complicated as his subject, certainly one of the major writers of our time—or any time. Lang's expertise gives him a particular insight into the genesis of Rash's talents, themes, and settings. Thanks are in order to John Lang for opening this window into the remarkable world of Ron Rash's dark and shining body of brilliant work."—Lee Smith, author of New York Times best seller The Last Girls

"John Lang is one of our most outstanding authorities on contemporary literature and poetry. We are indeed fortunate that he has devoted his considerable expertise to the achievement of Ron Rash. Understanding Ron Rash is an exemplary study of one of our most important and accomplished literary figures."—Robert Morgan, author of The Road From Gap Creek

"With his gift for accessible literary analysis, John Lang captures the depth and singular vision of Ron Rash's fiction and poetry. One of the most thorough literary scholars around and surely one of the most generous in his approach, Lang brings to Rash's work the care and appreciation that he has brought to so many other southern Appalachian writers' work. This book is an invaluable addition to the ever-growing discussion of Rash's contribution to American literature."—Kathryn Stripling Byer, former NC poet Laureate and author of the award-winning Wildwood Flower