Plantation Airs

"In Plantation Airs, Brannon Costello argues persuasively for new attention to the often-neglected issue of class in southern literary studies. Focusing on the relationship between racial paternalism and social class in American novels written after World War II, Costello asserts that well into the twentieth century, attitudes and behaviors associated with an idealized version of agrarian antebellum aristocracy - especially, those of racial paternalism - were believed to be essential for white southerners. The wealthy employed them to validate their identities as "aristocrats," while…