Mark Royden Winchell's Books

Last week I was saddened to learn about the death of John R. W. Stott.  I have only read a few of Stott's works, but have many times been blessed by his greater influences in the Christian world.  With Stott having reached the age of 90 and being surrounded by Christian friends with Handel's Messiah playing in the background, his passing was one of celebration.

But I also learned that another influential author had died.  To my shock, this other author died some years back.  Even in a world of internet access to information, I still miss many important details.  Mark Royden Winchell, literary scholar, biographer, culture warrior, died in May of 2008. Winchell was both a graduate of Vanderbilt University and an heir to the finest traditions of literature there.  Much of the greatest literary criticism and insight of our times have been birthed at Vanderbilt.  The Fugitive Poets were Vanderbilt men.  Many of those men were also among the contributors to both a cause and a series of books, and as such were identified as Agrarians.  (The book was I'll Take My Stand by 12 Southerners.)  And the New Criticism, which dominated literary studies for a long spell, was also spawned by the rich heritage and teachings and mentors found at Vanderbilt. 

Winchell, like Dr. Louise Cowan, Dr. Mel Bradford, Dr. Richard Weaver, and many others, was an exemplar of the Southern and academic literary tradition stemming from Vanderbilt.



Biography of a literature teacher--Cleanth Brooks

When I left teaching my job teaching history in a public school and began teaching history and literature in a private Christian school, my thinking underwent a series of major changes.  I had a minor in English and had read sporadically from literary works, but had given the bulk of my time in reading and in the classroom to history. 

Almost on a whim, I ordered the book Cleanth Brooks and the Rise of Modern Criticism by Winchell.  My experience of reading it was a 'game changer.'  I learned more about Southern literature and literary criticism than I had ever imagined.  For several years, I was insanely obsessed with the Agrarians, Southern authors, Faulkner, and any other works related to those topics.  (The fire has moderated over the years, but the love of Southern literature continues.)

I not only loved this book about Brooks, but I also began collected books that Brooks wrote.  He is my favorite model of a literary critic.  I wish I had known him when he was still living.  Thankfully, Winchell's biography gives me a sense of what that man was like.

Great poet, critic, novelist, Southerner--Donald Davidson

I was estatic the year that the book Where No Flag Flies: Donald Davidson and the Southern Resistance
came out.  From my reading of the Agrarians and Fugitive Poets and some of Davidson's books, he entered the pantheon of my heroes.  Mel Bradford was originally working on this biography.  His untimely death prevented that work from being completed.  Dr. Winchell took on the mantle and did an excellent job of covering the life of a complicated and interesting man.

I wrote a letter to Winchell sometime after I read the Brooks biography.  He wrote a gracious reply, which mentioned some connection his wife had with family in the Texarkana area.  I had the hope of meeting him someday.  I wish that had happened.  I truly have benefited from his biographies.

I learned of Winchell's death in reading an announcement about his last book, which has just been published by ISI.  That book is titled The Cause of  Us All: Cultural Politics and the American South.  I look forward to acquiring it soon and enjoying yet another good read from a great scholar.

Intercollegiate Studies Institute