It’s Literally Wednesday: What Would a Local Literary Tour Look Like
Dave | December 19, 2012
New York Times book critic Dwight Garner wrote a piece recently about touring literary Manhattan, hitting the hotels, restaurants, bookstores, and (of course) bars that had connections with famous writers. I’ve been to a good number of these sites, including The White Horse Tavern in the West Village where Welsh writer Dylan Thomas had his last of many, many drinks before dying — at the age of 39. This location is also the meeting point of the Greenwich Village Literary Pub Crawl tour.
A true highlight of Ireland is the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl. There are also ones in London and Edinburgh, as well as Chicago. Don’t have the time to travel? The state of Nebraska offers a virtual literary tour.
Closer to home, there’s slim pickings. Savannah offers a Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil tour. There are self-guided tours of Flannery O’Connor’s home outside of Miledgeville.
As for Atlanta, a literary pub crawl in Atlanta might consist of an evening at Manuel’s Tavern, where Paul Hemphill sometimes had a drink.
A literary tour of Atlanta would require a bus, and wouldn’t need to stop too many times. There’s Joel Chandler Harris’ Wren’s Nest, the rebuilt Dump at Peachtree and 10th where Margaret Mitchell lived and wrote (and 17th and Peachtree where she was born and 13th and Peachtree where she was fatally struck by a drunk taxi driver), a house on 15th Street where Pat Conroy wrote The Great Santini, and … I’m running out of ideas.
What am I missing?
Latest from Decaturish
Looking beyond just author’s former residences, how about a tour of locations of now-closed independent bookstores (Oxford Books comes to mind) along with the remaining ones like Little Shop of Stories?
Also in Savannah, Flannery O’Connor’s childhood home. We took a trip to Savannah last May and travelled via Milledgeville for both F. O’C’s spots.
Carson McCullers Museum in Columbus.
Tour the Scribbler room (if there is one) at Decatur HIgh School where Roy Blount Jr. was editor and President of his class. I’m sure someone on this site knows if his childhood home is still standing.
http://www.decaturbookfestival.com/2007/Authors/author-detailed-bios.php?AuthorID=34
Speaking of Roy Blount:
http://gardenandgun.com/article/end-line-taste-home
Roy’s house on Glenn Circle is still standing, though I’d be hard pressed to remember which one it is.
http://adamsrealtors.com/net/org/info.aspx?s=91620.0.0.15
Well, any tour of literary Atlanta would have to include the haunts of James Dickey, author of the poem Looking for the Buckhead Boys (so, Buckhead?).
Also, the train station at Emory is the setting of a Flannery O’Connor short story with an unfortunate title: http://www.emory.edu/EMORY_MAGAZINE/fall97/enigma.html
In my personal pantheon, a stop at the site of the OMNI (What you looking at Joe? Slake that leer, I just happen to be drunk on some righteous OMNI Beer) or on Ponce de Leon at Marco’s Pita (the site of the original Tortillas) would be required to memorialize Deacon Lunchbox: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWWXbunELKk
And while you were on Ponce, it would only be natural to stop in at the Clermont to commemorate Fred Willard’s awesome mystery, “Down on Ponce.”
The Majestic Diner was also featured frequently in Down on Ponce — I also liked it lot — which is the closest I’ve come to eating at the Majestic.
I had totally forgot about that particular Flannery O’Connor’s short story, which gave me a chance to be shaken all over again.
Kindred spirit! I love that poem and I love that short story.
James Dickey grew up in Atlanta at 166 West Wesley… and Alice Walker is from Eatonton.
Oh yeah, and Callanwolde, which becomes a very ominous place in “The Prince of Tides.”
The great historian Daniel Boorstin was born and raised in Atlanta, but his family fled after his lawyer father helped defend Leo Frank.
Gotta visit the grave of Thomas Holley Chivers in Decatur Cemetery . A book is coming soon on this whacked out 19th century poet, and this is a great chance to be ahead of the curve.
According to interviews, the inspiration for at least one of the poems (“Monument”) that won Natasha Trethewey the Pulitzer Prize came while she was jogging in the Decatur Cemetery.
I want a tour that takes me to all of the places where Natasha Tretheway hangs out.
I’d love to see all of the above – it sounds fantastic. We do 10 literary pubs in under a mile in Soho and Fitzrovia, but we have the benefit of being in London. Thanks for the mention Dave. Hope to see you sometime.