Eudora Welty and Daniel Woodrell: Writings of the Upland South

A map from the Appalachian Regional Commission shows counties from thirteen states selected to receive special help from the federal government due to extreme poverty and lack of opportunity in the region ("Appalachian Region"). Since the hill country bordering Alabama to the east and Tennessee to the north is the setting for Welty's novel Losing Battles, I realized that, according to some definitions, Welty had written an Appalachian novel, or at least an "Upland South" novel. The Congress hereby finds and declares that the Appalachian region of the United States, while abundant in natural resources and rich in potential, lags behind the rest of the Nation in its economic growth and that its people have not shared properly in the Nation's prosperity. [...]Julia Mortimer has her own lessons to learn. Gloria still must learn, even as an "orphan," that the threads of her existence are deeply intertwined with the community, for better and for worse. Since moving to Appalachia, I have learned to revise my own literary, historical, and cultural maps, imposing new boundaries and questioning long held notions of "region."