Lewis Nordan (August 23, 1939 – April 13, 2012) was an American writer. Nordan was born to Lemuel and Sara Bayles in

Forest, Mississippi Forest is a city and the county seat of Scott County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 5,684 at the 2010 census and the population is a minority-majority. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a tot ...

and grew up in

Itta Bena, Mississippi Itta Bena is a city in Leflore County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 2,049 at the 2010 census. The town's name is derived from the Choctaw phrase ''iti bina'', meaning "forest camp". Itta Bena is part of the Greenwood, Mississipp ...

. He received his B.A. at

Millsaps College Millsaps College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Jackson, Mississippi. It was founded in 1890 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. History The college was founded ...

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

, his M.A. in 1966 from

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

, and his PhD in 1973 from

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

in Alabama. After holding faculty positions at the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

and the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

, he became in 1983 an assistant professor at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

. In 1983, at age forty-five, Nordan published his first collection of stories, ''Welcome to the Arrow-Catcher Fair''. The collection established him as a writer in the Southern tradition of

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...

Erskine Caldwell Erskine Preston Caldwell (December 17, 1903 – April 11, 1987) was an American novelist and short story writer. His writings about poverty, racism and social problems in his native Southern United States, in novels such as '' Tobacco Road'' (19 ...

, and

Flannery O'Connor Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries. O'Connor was a Southern writer who of ...

. It also established a place for Nordan's fiction, the fictional Arrow Catcher, Mississippi, a small town in the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazo ...

based loosely on Nordan's hometown of Itta Bena. After the short-story collection ''The All-Girl Football Team'' (1986) followed ''Music of the Swamp'' (1991), a novel/short-story cycle featuring Nordan's spiritual alter ego, the young Sugar Mecklin, as the protagonist. The book features aspects of

magic realism Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical re ...

that would become one of Nordan's trademarks, along with a peculiar mix of the tragic and the hilarious. ''Wolf Whistle'' (1993), Nordan's second novel, was both a critical and public success. It won the Southern Book Award and gained him a wider audience. The book deals with one of the most notorious racial incidents in recent Southern history: the murder of

Emmett Till Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was an African American youth, who was 14 years old when he was abducted and Lynching in the United States, lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman, ...

. The novel ''The Sharpshooter Blues'' (1995) is a lyrical meditation on America's gun culture, as well a depiction of grotesque lives in Itta Bena. With the

coming-of-age novel In literary criticism, a bildungsroman () is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age). The term comes from the German words ('formation' or 'edu ...

''Lightning Song'' (1997), Nordan moved from Itta Bena to the hill country of Mississippi. The novel still features Nordan's magic Mississippi realism, complete with singing llamas and poetic lightning strikes. In 2000, Nordan published a "fictional memoir," ''Boy With Loaded Gun''. Before retiring in 2005, Lewis Nordan lived in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, where he taught Creative Writing at the

. He lived in Hudson, Ohio until his death.

Works

*''Welcome to the Arrow-Catcher Fair'' (1983) – short stories *''The All-Girl Football Team'' (1986) – short stories *''Music of the Swamp'' (1991) – novel/short story cycle *''Wolf Whistle'' (1993) – novel *''The Sharpshooter Blues'' (1995) – novel *''Sugar Among the Freaks: Selected Stories'' (1996) – short stories (nothing new all reprints from first two books) *''Lightning Song'' (1997) – novel *''Boy With Loaded Gun'' (2000) – memoir *''Would You Shut Up, Please'' (2014) - posthumous single short story e-book

Other media

Boston-based alternative rock band

Twinemen Twinemen were an alternative rock band based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA created by former members of the bands Morphine and Face to Face. The group included Dana Colley (saxophone / vocals), Billy Conway (percussion / vocals / sometimes ...

wrote and recorded a song entitled Harper & the Midget. This song contains a significant portion of a story, albeit slightly modified, from Music of the Swam

as well as religious music from a church supposedly located in Cambridge, MA. In the song, Harper cuts off the Midget's hand with a chainsaw. In the book, Harper cuts off his own hand with the chainsaw.

References

External links

Lewis Nordan at The Mississippi Writer's PageInterview with Lewis Nordan by Dory Adams
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nordan, Lewis 20th-century American novelists American male novelists Novelists from Mississippi People from Forest, Mississippi People from Itta Bena, Mississippi University of Pittsburgh faculty 1939 births 2012 deaths 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Pennsylvania