This chapter discusses Lee Smith's fiction, which consistently probes the crises of identity that plague so many contemporary Americans, particularly women. Born on November 1, 1944, in the southwestern Virginia coal-mining town of Grundy, Lee Smith was an only child and a voracious reader. Smith recalls that growing up in Grundy, she consciously tried to conform to the image of an aspiring southern “lady.” Initially Smith wrote about romantic and foreign subjects, but after encountering Eudora Welty's work in a southern literature course, she realized the importance of writing from one's experience. Like other members of her generation of southern writers, Smith creates a full, complex world of characters who confirm some stereotypes and transcend others. Her novels include The Last Day the Dogbushes Bloomed (1968), The Last Day the Dogbushes Bloomed—
Something in the Wind (1971), Fancy Strut (1973), Black Mountain Breakdown (1980), Family Linen (1985), Fair and Tender Ladies (1988), Saving Grace (1995), and On Agate Hill (2006).
Impact of the Garrett Lee Smith Youth Suicide Prevention Program on Suicide Mortality
