This Day and Time - (Appalachian Echoes Fiction) by Anne W Armstrong (Paperback)

About the Book

"Anne Armstrong moved to Knoxville as a teenager in 1885 and spent her formative years in the city, growing up in west Knoxville (Cumberland Avenue and Kingston Pike, in particular), and other notable areas in what we now know as the university and downtown districts. Her first novel, This Day and Time, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1930. It is credited by scholars as the first realistic fictional account of the Appalachian region-in stark contrast to, for instance, Mary Noailles Murfree's In the Tennessee Mountains published in 1886. Behrend has written a critical introduction to the work and provides a bibliography as well as appendices of reviews and materials from the stage play that was produced from the novel"--

Book Synopsis

Considered by many scholars to be the first novel to realistically depict the Appalachian region and its people, Anne Armstrong's This Day and Time (1930) follows a resilient young woman named Ivy, deserted by her husband and raising a young son in the mountains after having tried working factory jobs in town. With lyrical descriptions of the landscape and careful, if archaic, use of dialect, Armstrong explores both timeless and contemporaneous themes, including the impact of industrialization, the deep connection between mountaineers and their land, the roles and victimization of women, and the cycle of life through the changing seasons. Agrarian critic Donald Davidson called it "as true a novel of the mountains as has been written."

For this new edition of Armstrong's work, editor Linda Behrend has written a critical introduction that discusses these literary themes and other components of the text, including biographical information, an analysis of Armstrong's style and technique, and connections to other literary works of the time. An extensive bibliography includes archival and primary sources, book reviews from This Day and Time's original appearance in 1930, reviews of stage adaptations of the book, and sources that shed light on its unique linguistic style. Almost a century after This Day and Time was first published, this edition offers both an engaging narrative and an insightful study for a new generation of readers.

Review Quotes

Ivy Ingoldsby, the heroine of this novel, is a powerful depiction of one woman's enduring strength and independence in the hard-scrabble world of Depression Appalachia. Armstrong is a gifted writer, most impressively in her vivid descriptions of the Appalachian landscape. A bonus to this new edition is Linda Behrend's excellent introduction, which gives readers valuable insights into the novel's history and continuing importance. Long out of print, This Day and Time is a significant contribution to our region's literature. --Ron Rash, author of Serena and The Cove

About the Author

LINDA BEHREND, now retired, was collection development librarian with the University of Tennessee Libraries. She is the editor of Armstrong's memoir Of Time and Knoxville: Fragment of an Autobiography, and her articles have appeared in Against the Grain, the Encyclopedia of Appalachia, and the New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.