Masterfully wrought and keenly observed, Mountain Path draws on Harriette Simpson Arnow’s experiences as a schoolteacher in downtrodden Pulaski County, Kentucky, deep in the heart of Appalachia, prior to WWII. Far from a quaint portrait of rural life, Arnow’s novel documents hardships, poverty, illiteracy, and struggles. She also recognizes a fragile cultural richness, one characterized by “those who like open fires, hounds, children, human talk and song instead of TV and radio, the wisdom of the old who had seen all of life from birth to death”, and which has since been eroded by the advent of highways and industry.
In Mountain Path, Arnow exquisitely captures the voices, faces, and ways of a people she cared for deeply, and who evoked in her a deep respect and admiration.
- ISBN10 161186058X
- ISBN13 9781611860580
- Publish Date 30 July 2012
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 17 April 2015
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Michigan State University Press
- Format Paperback
- Pages 274
- Language English