Author Bragg tells tales of the South
By Ana Winters | Staff writer
Rick Bragg has never pretended that his childhood was anything but hard. He was born in the hills of Alabama, and he grew up in a house that was anything but perfect. His father was an alcoholic who drifted in and out, more often absent than present, leaving behind broken promises and the occasional cruel word.
Yet from the hard times of that childhood came the love that shaped him, especially from his mother, Margaret, who worked herself nearly to the bone to keep her children clothed, fed and safe.
Bragg, who spoke at the Maxwell Performing Arts Theatre on Friday, Aug. 22, is an award-winning American journalist who is best known for his nonfiction books and his writing for The New York Times. The talk was presented by the AU National Writing Project.
Bragg has said many times that if there is a hero in his life, then it is his mother. His Pulitzer Prize and shelves of books mean less to him than the ability to provide for her as she had always deserved. His memoir, “All Over but the Shoutin’,” stands as a monument to her sacrifices. The title comes from a Southern phrase that his father used to say.
Bragg’s way of writing is full of the music of the South, lyrical, plainspoken and filled with memory. What sets him apart is his devotion to writing about ordinary people who’ve led extraordinary lives, not through fame but through sacrifice.
Factory workers, millhands, widows, veterans, men and women who gave up dreams so their children could eat these are the characters Bragg brings to the page.
“There is nothing dull about being a miner or picking cotton,” Bragg said of the ordinary people who are extraordinary to him.
“They’re not great because of what they got,” he has said. “They’re great because of what they gave up.”
Bragg’s stories echo with the belief that dignity and heroism are found in sacrifice, not celebrity.
Even so, Bragg, who was introduced by Augusta author Brian Panowich, has crossed paths with some celebrities. Among his most memorable was Dolly Parton. Bragg interviewed her for Southern Living magazine and later befriended her. Their kinship made sense. They both grew up poor in the South and both carried their past proudly, and both turned hardship into art. Parton’s songs of poverty and perseverance run parallel to Bragg’s tales of people building beauty from the dirt.
When Bragg wrote about Parton, he didn’t focus on rhinestones or record sales. He saw her humanity, the same grit and selflessness he saw in his mother. It was less an interview than a conversation between two storytellers.
Bragg’s career hasn’t been without turbulence. He has known professional controversies, as he tends to write about hard topics others shy away from. In 2003, he resigned from The New York Times after it was revealed that a story for which he had a byline was largely reported by an intern. Bragg’s resignation came on the heels of the Jayson Blair scandal.
The Alabama writer has always insisted that the best stories are about “livin’ and dyin’.” Living, in his telling, is not glamorous. It’s hard work, nights of worry and a mother’s quiet strength. Dying is not an abstract idea. It’s the too early loss of fathers, the grief of widows, the weight of war. Yet in between the two, Bragg finds and writes about the moments that matter—the love that refuses to break.
Even for all the pain and loss talked about in his work, Bragg is not a writer of despair. He is a writer of endurance. Someone has to talk about the hard things and he finds the love and worthy sacrifice in those hard stories. Bragg said he "can't help but see those things.”
His mother’s story. Dolly Parton’s story. The stories of millhands and soldiers and laborers. All of them have the same story: Ordinary people who often live extraordinary lives because of the sacrifices they make.
Bragg writes so the rest of us won’t forget.
And as long as he keeps telling those stories of livin’ and dyin’, the shoutin’ is far from over.
Contact Ana Winters at anwinters@augusta.edu.
Journalist and author Rick Bragg signs one of his books after his talk at the Maxwell on Friday, Aug. 22. At the top of the page, Augusta author Brian Panowich, left, leads the question-and-answer session with Bragg and the audience. (photos by Lara Shayne/the Bell Ringer)
