Additional information
by James Kibler (Author)
In this novel from James Everett Kibler, Kildee's General Store has been the heart and soul of Clay Bank, South Carolina, for ages, but Kildee is tired and ready to bow to inevitable 'progress. Chauncey Doolittle, who every day finds a reason to drop in and idle away the hours in conversation with other townsfolk, is thrown into crisis by the idea of the store closing. Maybe the town can do something about it. This novel, by the winner of the 1999 Fellowship of Southern Writers Award for Nonfiction, examines the true meaning of community.
Front Jacket
Set in 2008, this third novel in the Clay Bank County Series presents an intimate study of Chauncey Doolittle-thoughtful widower, poet, and steward of the land-as he struggles to come to terms with the changes unfolding across his beloved hometown landscape. Tracing the daily life of its title character and such companions as affable storyteller Triggerfoot Tinsley, this work exemplifies James Everett Kibler's lyrical and poignant style celebrating southern agrarian values.
As the passage of time threatens the survival of Kildee's General Store and the tradition of stories shared by its patrons in front of the shiny black stove, Chauncey and his neighbors band together in an effort to preserve their cherished way of life, constantly threatened by urbanization. Spanning one year, the work draws upon the rhythms of the seasons as the place itself, the Clay Bank community, and its inhabitants emerge as forces of salvation and endurance in light of the ceaseless crush of modernity.
Back Jacket
"THE EDUCATION OF CHAUNCEY DOOLITTLE is a plaintive, yet also humorous, rendering of a vanishing way of life. This fine novel should have an honored place on the same shelf as the novels of Andrew Lytle and Wendell Berry."
--Ron Rash, award-winning poet, short story writer, and author of Saints at the River and Serena
"Kibler has provided readers with another refreshing stroll down a breezy country lane, and this time he makes more explicit what has been inherent in the previous Clay Bank County novels. The world of the globalist fast lane is at best oblivious to the destruction it heaps on 'the least little dooryard things.' The wildflowers, however, survive in the cracks and the unexploited wilderness."
--James P. Cantrell, author of How Celtic Culture Invented Southern Literature
"In his new book, James Kibler returns to dearly familiar territory and finds a way to blend folklore, politics, philosophy, history, and sharp opinion in a work of leisurely good humor and loyal fellowship. THE EDUCATION OF CHAUNCEY DOOLITTLE is the perfect companion for the December fireside and the July streamside, a book to be sipped and never gulped. Flavorsome!"
--Fred Chappell, author of I Am One of You Forever
