Additional information
by Tony Scully (Author)
A South Carolina Requiem, the final book in Tony Scully's trilogy, evokes his earlier books, A Carolina Psalter and Come into the Light, with poems addressing foundation texts with questions and occasional confrontation as we move into new understandings of Spirit. As South Carolina strives forward in cultural achievements in science, education, and the arts, A South Carolina Requiem celebrates the warmth of its people and their continuing determination to fight for justice and civil rights. A South Carolina Requiem acknowledges the struggles over the centuries of dirt farmers and mill workers, the removal of the Cherokee in the Trail of Tears, and the injustices of slavery and Jim Crow as the threshold of rebirth and transformation. Scully's poems interact with South Carolina traditions and rituals: Baptist hymns; Presbyterian hymns; Anglican hymns; the Kaddish; the Cherokee prayer at death; significant sermons in the history of the Carolinas; and the Requiem Mass, itself a compendium of ancient and revered texts. The poems also interact with the sometimes controversial public events and personalities that have challenged and ultimately transformed the people of the state.
Author Biography
Tony Scully has been a Broadway playwright, a Jesuit, and mayor of a Southern city. After Boston College and the Yale School of Drama, he pursued liturgical reform at the Woodstock Center for Religion and Worship in Manhattan. In Hollywood, he was a writer/consultant. He has taught painting and worked in street theater. He is the author of A Carolina Psalter (Resource, 2019) and Come into the Light (Resource, 2020).
