Sara Haardt (1898–1935)

Seventeen short stories by the wife of H. L. Mencken, edited with a preface by H. L. M., the stories first published in various magazines between 1924 and 1935.

These stories of the South are written by a Southerner (born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama). They picture the passing of the Old South, and like Sara Haardt's novel, The Making of a Lady, they picture also the conflict of a new generation with the lingering traditions of the old and decaying culture, "the dramatic contrast between the old dying and the young struggling to live and thrive," the vain efforts of the young to lay the old ghosts of the past.

The biographical preface by H. L. M. is a revealing portrait of his wife, a criticism of her work, and a valuable commentary on the literature of the South.… (mehr)