Deep South by Erskine Caldwell
"Deep South" by Erskine Caldwell is a reflective nonfiction work that explores the author's experiences growing up in the American South as the son of a minister. The book provides insight into the social norms of rural Fundamentalist communities, characterized by a strong belief in key religious tenets such as the virgin birth and personal salvation. Caldwell paints a vivid picture of the Southern landscape, reminiscent of the settings in his renowned novels, showcasing impoverished rural life marked by dilapidated homes and churches.
Central to the narrative is Caldwell's father, Ira Sylvester, a pastor who often found himself at odds with the prevailing Fundamentalist culture, particularly due to his inclusive approach to faith and his support for impoverished families regardless of race. The tension between his moderate, intellectual viewpoint and the fervent emotionalism of Fundamentalist practices—often linked to the era's racial and social tensions—serves as a critical theme. The book also touches on the complexities of religion and politics in the South, highlighting how these elements intersected with groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Through his reflections, Caldwell presents a nuanced examination of Southern identity, revealing both the good and the troubling aspects of the culture.
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Subject Terms
Deep South by Erskine Caldwell
First published: 1968
The Work
In this nonfiction work, Erskine Caldwell reflects on his life as a minister’s son in the American South. He describes the social norms of white, rural, Fundamentalist sects that—while varying widely in their religious practices—share an unwavering faith in the virgin birth, the second coming of Christ, the direct creation of humanity by God, miraculous healing, answers to prayers, personal salvation, and physical life after death.
Caldwell sets his reflections against the landscape of the South so vividly portrayed in his best-known novels, Tobacco Road (1932) and God’s Little Acre (1933). This is a land of muddy, rutted roads lined with tumbledown shacks and trod by impoverished tenant farmers. Once-white paint peels on sagging country churches where wasps buzz under the eaves. The region’s only change between the 1920’s and the 1960’s was the displacement of the horse by the automobile.
Caldwell’s reminiscences focus on his father, Ira Sylvester, a pastor of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian faith who, at various times, held church posts throughout the South. Wherever they went, father and son attended religious observances: all-night camp meetings, baptismal immersions in streams, foot-washings, blood-drinking communions, snake-handlings, and speaking in tongues. Ira Sylvester hoped the wide-ranging experience would protect his son against the tyranny of dogma and prejudice.
A dignified clergyman of conservative nature, Ira Sylvester found himself in perpetual conflict with Fundamentalism. On one occasion, Florida church elders demanded that he resign because dark-skinned Cubans were attending services. At other churches, he was condemned for failing to preach “old time religion.” His assistance to poverty-stricken families of all colors and denominations earned him disapproval in several locales.
A moderate man—restrained in temperament and intellectual by nature—he condemned religious ecstasy as a dangerously addictive narcotic for those gripped by poverty and despair. He advocated the Ten Commandments as a code of conduct and denounced evangelists who incited feverish emotionalism among their congregations.
Fundamentalist religion and states’ rights politics were synonymous in Caldwell’s South, and from their proponents the Ku Klux Klan drew its members. The Klan used terrorist tactics to crusade for the preservation of white, Protestant supremacy. Both Caldwells scorned the night-riding violence of those who, while faithful in their attendance at Sunday worship, betrayed the biblical principle of brotherhood. Many good people lived in the South, Erskine Caldwell wrote, but they were well hidden amid what he called a “miasma of prejudice.”
This book counterpoints two identities. The stereotypic, sweat-dripping, voice-quavering evangelist stands in stark contrast to Ira Sylvester, a rational man forever embattled against irrationality.
Bibliography
Arnold, Edwin T., ed. Conversations with Erskine Caldwell. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1988.
Cook, Sylvia Jenkins. Erskine Caldwell and the Fiction of Poverty. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1991.
Klevar, Harvey L. Erskine Caldwell: A Biography. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1993.